A statement of a soul | Raphael x Reader

7. Audience with father

It has become a sort of a ritual.

You get up early, continue reading on an empty stomach while sitting outside in cold, maintaining a careful flow of your life force within the mind, body and soul. Eventually, you get up completely ignoring the snow pile that has gathered around your seated body, then enter a small shack where you light a happily dancing fire, allowing yourself the joy of cooking a nice, filling meal.

It's been months since you left Baldur's Gate. You sometimes wonder how the city looks after all those days citizens spent rebuilding it. You hope that most of the work is done, now that the winter has started; you would hate to see families trying to survive on the streets in such cold.

You moved out of the city with Shadowheart and Halsin, the new Selune's cleric accompanied the two of you for most of the journey back to the Moonrise Towers before partying ways just to head towards the city of Waterdeep, seeking some answers in the famous wizarding town.

You are truly grateful for Halsin. Although you consider yourself to be close with most of the so-called Heroes of the Baldur's Gate, the old and wise druid understands you in a completely different way. After all, a monk and a druid are a much closer neighbors than a githyanki fighter and a monk, or a wizard of Waterdeep and a monk. No. Halsin has the insight and the knowledge of the nature's laws beyond measure and he is never a type of person to judge.

That is why you found support of your manic plans in his embrace.

With your belly filled with delicious carrot soup full of root spices, you stand up to your feet and walk around the open fireplace, removing some of the bigger branches, throwing them away from the fire. Then, you grab your previously prepared bag and leave the shack once again. There is a heavy leather pouch placed next to the doorway and you shove it into your bag.

You glance behind your shoulder one last time. There is a high chance that this is your last time ever seeing this place. You smile to yourself, taking a great relish in the appeal of the simple hut you helped to build on those lands.

As you turn to your right, walking through the piling snow, you stop nearby one of the naked trees, taking a glance at the effuse branches spreading above your head. You reach with your hand towards a small bird house, brushing off the snow decorating the top of it.

'You will bloom soon again,' you say under your breath, then continue towards the building towering over the horizon.

Once inside, you head over to the prison, climbing down the stairs, pushing the heavy door open. Not much has changed inside of here, except for the lack of the nautiloid colony, that is. You step onto a bridge leading to a fortified tower, which once served as the heart of the prison, controlling the mechanism of each cell doors and providing a passage to the now dormant offering altar.

You enter the tower and pick up a human skull from the table, placing it on the North-East side of the bloody circle. Just like back in Devil's Fee, the skull bursts into flames and a portal to a different plane is being torn open.

You smile to yourself and step inside, just to appear in the familiar, yet changed mansion you and your team once raided.

'Tav!' you hear Hope calling to you. The door to the portal room opens with a sinister sound of the hinges and you see the cleric, looking better than ever. 'Wow, I need to get that door fixed.'

You smile and greet her kindly.
'How are you? How is Karlach and Wyll?'

'I'm great! They are currently resting, I will send them your greetings if you want.'

'That would be awesome. I missed them so much, but we might see each other again,' you say, but you aren't convinced of the words leaving your mouth.

Hope is quick to pick up on that and wraps her arms around her body, looking at you with a focused frown on her face.
'So today is the day then, huh?'