Down in the caverns of Malos Ke'rai, it's easy for things to be forgotten by those who are ignorant, but those who choose, who desire, to forget... They are the ones who will always remember...
The fireplace crackled and popped in the dimly lit home, the stillness of night hanging in the air as the flames consumed the logs of wood.
Sitting across the room was a Drow woman gazing into the hearth, the reflection of the flames dancing in both her eyes and the polished longsword on the mantle. It had been just over seventy years since she had last used that sword, and her life had been all the better for it. Adventuring for motherhood, adrenaline for comfort... that was the trade she accepted all those years ago, and she didn't regret that choice in the slightest. Two beautiful children with a third on the way, that was the real prize she had won.
And yet, there was still a part of her that missed the life she left. As the woman stood up and gently lifted the longsword from the stand, she looked at her reflection in the blade with distant eyes. The past six hundred years were starting to catch up with her, soft wrinkles on her once timeless face, scars on her hands from all the times she sliced her hands open, her amber eyes lacking the same youthful intensity they once held... she had let herself grow old, something a younger Aliah promised never to do.
A soft smile crept over her face and she tightened her grip on the blackened steel sword, turning and bringing the blade arcing through the air behind her in a diagonal slash, the air shrieking as the blade sliced through the stillness. It was exactly as she had left it, the leather grip still fitting perfectly in her weathered hands. She let out a small exhale and brought the sword up in a quick slash, the air shrieking once again.
She held her blade still for what felt like an eternity, the night air settling once again before she lowered the sword, gently holding the flat of the blade with her right hand for a moment before she rotated the blade, it's edge lining up perfectly with a long scar that ran along her palm. She took a sharp inhale and pushed the swords tip forward, the edge biting into her hand as pain flashed in her hand, a sudden swell of crimson streaming from it. There was a moment of dulled quietness before a sudden hiss sounded out, a black mist enveloping the blade as the blood continued to drip from her hand.
It's been almost a century since she used the Rite of the Dead last, but the skin-tingling aura of death it gave off was not a sensation she would soon forget. It was the same aura that had clouded her time and time again in a previous life. The manticore, the green dragon, the pit fiend... all those final breathes that she would have taken if it wasn't for her party.
She swallowed thickly and blinked, and the black vapour dissipated, the flow of blood from her hand slowing and eventually stopping. She looked at her and let out a soft sigh before instinctively tightening her grip on the sword, her ears twitching slightly at the small scuffing sound she caught.
Her eyes darted to the stairway, and her tense stance immediately softened as she locked eyes with the small violet-eyed boy watching her from the staircase.
"Menel or, you scared me." she muttered with a soft laugh, putting the sword back up in its stand as the young child quietly walked over to her.
"I felt something icky... and then I came down and you were bleeding." He whispered as he gently took her hand. Aliah sighed softly and scooped her son up in her arms, gently poking his nose with her once bleeding hand.
"Aww, you don't need to worry about me. Mommy's just being careless... I'll be fine. Let's get you back to bed."
The young boy nodded and cuddled into the crook of her neck, hugging her softly. Aliah smiled softly and carried him upstairs, walking through the open door and laying him down in the one empty bed.
"Sleep well, Mime Titta Soron. I'll see you tomorrow morning"
She lowered her head and kissed the child on the forehead gently.
"See you tomorrow morning." He replied sleepily, already falling asleep as Aliah stood back up properly.
As the Drow woman walked over and out through the door, she couldn't help but turn and smile at the two slumbering children, Azurai already fallen asleep in the seven seconds he had been back in bed, and Sabelle cuddled up with her stuffed owlbear, fast asleep. This was the trade she accepted all those years ago... and no god, devil, demon or fay would ever be able to make her regret it.
