“We finally made it!” Aros exclaimed, jumping up to wrap her arms around Esther. Esther removed their hood leaning down to give Aros a quick kiss before looking around. It had been three days since they'd seen even the slightest bit of civilization. “Esther, honey, how much money do we have?” Freku was clearly already planning their finances in his head. “We’ve got about five silver,” Esther knew it wasn’t much but they’d spent most of their money stocking up for the journey here, and now they had very little money and had run out of supplies. After a couple moments of calculation Freku spoke, “Well with that much we could probably afford a piece of bread to share, and sleep in a stable with some horses.” Esther and Aros exchanged a look. “NO” they cried in unison, it had been three days since they’d had a proper meal and good nights rest and they were going to get it tonight.
“Well I suppose we could check the guild hall, see if they have any easy jobs we could do,” Freku suggested. It wasn’t the most pleasant sounding thing to do, since they were all exhausted, but they decided to check anyway. Upon reaching the quest board in the guild all of them began searching for easy jobs with decent pay. Esther was the first to point one out, “Oh, here’s one, 5 silver if we can find this woman’s missing bucket.” Esther thought that given how easy that should be, the pay was reasonable. Freku's face scrunched as he estimated what they could get with that “Well that would let us afford a decent meal for all of us. Maybe a room in the cheaper inn we saw on the wa-.” Aros suddenly interrupted him, “I found a great one, requesting a party of three! Ten gold just to kill some rodents in this old mansion. Apparently the guy who posted it is too old to deal with them himself and rich enough to pay plenty extra to get it done immediately.” Esther flinched at being called a party of three, while they only had three physical bodies, Crystal definitely counted as her own person.
Esther and Crystal couldn't remember a time when they weren't sharing a body, it was extremely rare for people from most races to be systems, so when they had told people they had often been met with a sense of unease at the unfamiliar if not outright hatred. Esther and Crystal could still vividly remember when they had finally felt comfortable sharing this part of them with their partners. It had been almost a year since, and although it had taken Aros and Freku some time to get used to it, having never met a system, they loved and supported Esther and Crystal.
Upon further examination Esther had a bad feeling about this job, something felt off with how much was being offered bet they could barely say “I’m not so su-” before they were cut off by Freku, “with that we would be able to afford nice meals for all of us, and individual rooms at that super fancy looking inn!” Aros and Esther laughed at that, it had been a long time since any of them had wanted individual rooms, preferring to sleep together as a group. They decided to take the job, the woman at the counter greeted them with a gentle smile and gave them instructions on where to meet the man who had posted the job.
Upon reaching the manor Esther’s feeling got worse, it didn’t look like the kind of place someone lived in, but still they went and knocked on the door. To their surprise a kind looking old man answered the door, “Ah hello, you all must be adventurers, I hope you’re here to help with the pests!” Esther politely responded “Why yes, we saw your posting on the guild board. Can you show us where they are?” the old man nodded and started to walk into the house, gesturing for the group to follow. As Esther walked through the door, they heard a shrill whistle and their vision went dark.
Esther awoke bound to a wooden pole, being carried by a couple of strange people in dark robes, they had an odd crest on them that Esther immediately recognized. “Damn,” Esther cursed under their breath in frustration, they had known the job seemed a little too easy, but the guild was supposed to make sure jobs were legitimate. “We should have said something,” Crystal’s voice chided from inside their head. But they hadn’t said anything and now they were going to die. They were going to be killed by a group of sadistic freaks who got off on killing in the name of their god.
Usually Esther would admire the adorable way Freku’s face scrunched up when he was making a plan, but right now there were more important matters to attend to. When Esther turned their attention to Aros they desperately wanted to hold her and wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks. They wanted to grasp at the soft comfort that came with having their girlfriend safe in their arms, but with the rope holding their arms in place it was impossible. Not even Freku with their goliath strength could get it undone, so of course Esther’s human strength wouldn’t be enough.
Suddenly Freku’s face lit up, “Crystal, do you have any magic that could help us out of this?” Esther let Crystal push forward just enough so she could easily speak, “They took my supply pouch, the only thing I could cast right now would be mind spells which would only help me and Esther…” Esther wasn’t sure even mind magic would even be able to help them out of this, Crystal was certainly impressive, but she couldn’t heal their injuries or get them out of the restraints. “I… I think I could manage to get one of us out of here with teleportation” Aros piped up, as an air spirit, her wind magic was incredible but she couldn’t master teleportation, making whatever she was teleporting appear in a random location nearby. “Send Esther and Crystal, better to save two of us than one.” Freku commented quietly. Esther hated the idea, but Freku added to it quickly. “We don’t know how long they’ll keep us imprisoned. You could find some Bealeiroot and have Crystal heal before coming to save us.” Aros nodded before quickly chanting her spell.
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And suddenly Esther and Crystal were laying on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea. They immediately sprang into action finding some Bealeiroot. After some searching Esther managed to identify some of the herb nearby and Crystal used it as a material to use her healing magic, and once their wounds were healed enough for them to fight Esther took control back. Crystal might have the advantage of magic but Esther was far better in a fight, at least a physical one. Crystal could cause a lot of damage to enemy numbers quickly but she got exhausted easily. And Esther was almost unstoppable when Crystal was using her mind magic to give them extra power
Esther stood up to examine their surroundings, they recognized the cliffs from passing by them on the way to town. They knew that Freku and Aros must be underground somewhere, so they started to scan the cliffside hoping that the tunnels would be visible. Esther began to lose hope, desperately scanning for any indication of where they could be, then they saw it, maybe fifteen feet below the top of the cliff was a hollowed out circular area, almost like an amphitheater with the stage at the edge overlooking the eighty foot drop into the sharp rocks and water below. Esther started running, hoping that if they could make it down into the caves they could save their family.
Even with Crystal boosting their speed it took Esther almost ten minutes to sprint to the cliff above the cave, they jumped down, jamming their sword into the side of the cliff to gain some control over their descent. They had barely made it into the room when they heard footsteps approaching from one of the paths branching out from the room. Esther quickly and quietly hid just inside one of the other tunnels. Esther could make out Freku’s voice entering the room “Oh boy you assholes are going to regret this when our beloveds gets here.” Esther’s heart fluttered, early in their relationship Freku had gotten caught on finding a neutral alternative for boyfriend or girlfriend, he felt partner wasn’t special enough so he’d taken to calling Esther his beloved, and when Crystal had come out he changed to calling them his beloved. Esther looked around the corner and saw nine cultists, the two that had been carrying them, two carrying Aros, and four carrying Freku, then one dressed in a significantly fancier robe.
The fancy one spoke, “Throw the big one off the cliff, we’ll have to kill that one another way.” he gestured towards Aros as he spoke, clearly annoyed that he couldn’t just throw an air spirit off the side. “NO, throw me off first,” Aros was trying to buy time for Esther to find them and act, obviously not knowing that they were right there. As the cultists started to carry Freku towards the edge Esther ran out from hiding. Appearing behind the ones that had been carrying them earlier, Esther surprised one of them with a stab in the back, and the other with a quick hit to the head with their other fist, magically strengthened enough for an audible cracking sound as knuckle collided with skull.
Unfortunately that alerted the rest to Esther’s presence, the 4 carrying Freku continued trying to get Freku to the edge. The 2 carrying Aros dropped her to the ground and turned to face Esther, pulling swords from their robes. The sudden collision with the floor broke the pole Aros had been tied to, allowing her to undo the rest of her restraints, Esther quickly shoved through the cultists to a defensive position, trying to give Aros time to get up. The two cultists who had been carrying her made attempts at slashing Esther, which Esther easily dodged with Crystal’s help, following up by cutting one of their hands causing them to drop their sword. Aros had gotten up and now had access to their hands to channel magic, she quickly summoned a wind blade cutting the other cultist in half. Then Esther and Aros turned their attention to Freku, just as the cultists hoisted him off the side and let him drop to the rocks and water below.
Aros let out a scream of horror and fell to the ground, Esther almost collapsed from the sudden rush of emotion but before they could do anything they felt a sudden pull from within. Crystal had had enough, not even realizing what she was doing she pushed Esther to the back and took over the fight. She pulled out her component pouch, and in a mix of anger and sadness, she threw a volcanic rock at the four cultists chanting a spell as it flew, turning it into a giant ball of rage fueled fire, it passed through the cultists burning them to nothing but ash. Then Crystal turned her attention to the fancy one, and screamed. They were standing over Aros holding a sword impaled through her chest. Esther pushed forward to share equal control with Crystal, their emotions and thoughts fully in tune. Crystal screamed a spell, igniting Esther’s sword as they jumped at this bastard who had taken everything from them, between the speed from Crystal and the rage overtaking all exhaustion from the day, Esther reached the cultist before they could react, the sword easily slid through the robe, and… nothing, the cultist had disappeared before their sword could pierce their flesh.
Esther and Crystal collapsed to their knees next to their girlfriend, picking her up, cradling her head into their chest. Aros, barely clinging to life, motioned for them to bring their head down close to hers, with what little strength she had left she kissed them, and weakly rasped “Promise me you’ll live and love for us, you’ll find others, I lov…” Aros let out her final breath. Crystal faded into the back unable to maintain any control, Esther couldn’t hold the tears in anymore, holding Aros’ body close, wishing more than anything for one of her warm hugs, or for Freku to pick them up, anything to prove that this was all just a nightmare. Esther wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, clutching Aros’ body as if they could somehow bring her back if they just held on to her.
Eventually Esther rose, peeking over the edge hoping somehow Freku was okay, and being greeted by nothing but the sight of blood covered rocks sticking out of the water. Esther carried Aros’s body to the surface, they held her body up to sky, and recited the ancient funeral chant that she had taught them. Aros’ body turned to dust and began to float away on the wind, Esther fell to their knees watching as her girlfriend disappeared into the sky. As the last of their girlfriend disappeared, they felt the wind brush against their cheek, Esther collapsed sobbing, fully realizing they would never be able to see Aros or Freku again, never be held in their arms when they weren’t good, or tease Freku for the way his face scrunched up when he was deep in thought. Esther didn’t know how long had passed but when they finally rose it was dark. “I swear I won't let them get away with this.”