The Witcher The Swallow and The Monster

Through Time and Space

"Nearly everyone is in this life for themselves. The ones who aren't are dead or have suffered so badly they're either indifferent to everything or scarred for life." -(F/N) (L/N)

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(F/N) put Philippa in the same room as Margarita Laux-Antille. Geralt and Yennefer had rescued her from the prison in Oxenfurt. They weren't feeding her. They were beating her. She and all the other mages with her had been caught. They had killed the other mages they had captured. They had been saving her for last. After all her students had burned then they would grant her the pleasure of death. They had killed adults, teenagers, children. He just nodded to her respectfully. He saw the physical pain in the sorceress' eyes. He couldn't imagine watching all those people die. Especially if he cared for every person who was burned.

The witcher was disgusted, he blamed the only man responsible, Radovid. Before he left Novigrad, he swore he would see that monster burn. He was a witcher, it's what he did for a living. But this, this was personal. (F/N) remembered when he had been to Aretuza, all those years ago. But according to Margarita, Redanian soldiers had burned the school to the ground. The ones that hadn't been captured had ran with her to Novigrad to try to get out with Triss.

But they hadn't. The witcher remembered all the mages he and Triss had ended up saving. It paled in comparison to how many students Margarita had watched die. There was a certain sadness about it. There was a strong chance that there would be no next generation of mages. Mages, like witcher's, would have no one to replace them. They'd wander the continent, dying off, being mere reminders of what used to be.

Was magic doomed to die? Almost certainly. Dragons had been hunted to near extinction. Elves were hardly producing any young. Even the most common of monsters were becoming harder to find. (F/N) wondered if he would go broke and without food from lack of work. The thought had crossed his mind, but he doubted it. Vesemir had told him with absolute certainty, one of the most important lessons, he had said, as long as darkness, evil, and monstrosity's existed, so must the witcher's. Darkness and monsters would always exist, so monsters had to as well. Even if they weren't the kind that prowled in the forest.

(F/N) found Geralt waiting for him outside Avallac'h's room, he gave him a look and gestured down the hall, "I saw Philippa. You didn't kill her."

"I wanted to. I still do. I hate her."

Geralt nodded, he smiled slightly as he thought about their relationship, "Between you and me...I hate her to."

The witchers shared a laugh, "Having a mother for a sorceress is a special hell."

As Geralt opened the door to the room, he gave his ward a smile and nodded. When the pair saw Avallac'h, he was staring at a few drawings. He set them on a nightstand. He tried to stand in front of them, in an attempt to conceal them, but (F/N) saw them. They were images of women scantily clad and in suggestive positions. Material for a very specific kind of task.

The witcher smiled crudely, "Very nice. Never expected this of you."

The elf looked at the drawings and shrugged, "You humans have...hm, unusual tastes. How did you fare on Bald Mountain?"

Geralt scratched his white beard, his expression hardened, "You're the Sage. Do you really need to ask?"

The elf gave both the witcher's a cold look, his normally snooty voice was emotionless, "I ask as a courtesy. A concept you clearly forgot when you left without uttering a word."

(F/N) sneered as he stood by the nearby fireplace to warm his hands, he spoke as if he was being inconvenienced, "Ciri was in a hurry. And I couldn't find a reason not to go."