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"No!" Cleric's cry tore across the barren field of battle as they dropped to their knees. "No no no no, Wizard! Wizard, please-"
Wizard's body lay twisted unnaturally, blood oozing from three wounds on their chest, where the great white dragon had clutched them before throwing them halfway across the icy plain.
"Wizard?" Cleric's voice was a whisper now. They had watched Wizard shudder, then go still during the seconds it took them to cross the field. They trembled in their own exhaustion. Why had they used the last of their energy to send a message to Rogue and Ranger? They were probably miles away, lot of good they could do. Now Cleric had nothing left for Wizard. Their power, once a gift, now useless.
"H-hold on, Wizard, please hold on." Cleric fumbled in their pack for the small vial of Greater Healing they'd picked up in the last town. Somewhere... it had to be... please let it still be here.
The dragon crept closer as if stalking its prey, or perhaps it was simply acting out of caution for Wizard's fire.
Cleric grabbed the potion, grappling with the cork. Their hands were slick with blood, making the simple task nearly impossible.
"No..." The vial slipped out of their hand and shattered on the ground, nothing more than another bloodstain.
Their last hope. Gone.
Just like that.
Cleric sat there shivering, not from the cold, but from something else. Take your sword. Stand up. Fight.
They knew what they had to do. But they couldn't move. Could barely breathe.
They couldn't drag their eyes away from Wizard's pale face, eyes glazed over and half open, unseeing, unblinking.
Cleric clenched the hem of their tunic. Willing themselves to do what they knew they had to. To know for sure… they had to know…
They placed two fingers on the side of Wizard's neck. Their skin was still damp with sweat.
They had not expected a pulse, but now, feeling the absence of one was somehow worse. The stillness, the quiet, was all wrong.
“I did you a favor there. You should be thanking me.”
Cleric started, adrenaline shooting through them.
What?
They stared at the dragon, which lowered itself into a sitting position and curled its tail around its feet like a gigantic cat.
“You can… talk” was all Cleric could say.
The dragon nodded.
Slowly, Cleric drew their hand away from Wizard. Maybe they still had a chance. Maybe the dragon was wounded badly enough to give Cleric the edge, but…
All the air left Cleric's lungs at once. It couldn’t be. They were seeing things.
Hidden by Wizard’s hair, behind their ear, was a small scar in the shape of a star, one they’d never seen on Wizard. But they had certainly seen it before.
Months ago. When they’d encountered Final Boss for the first time. Nearly lost their lives before realizing they were far too powerful to take on yet.
But Wizard couldn’t be Final Boss. It didn’t make any sense. Why would they have joined their party, if their quest would eventually lead to that final confrontation?
“Poor thing.” The dragon flicked its tail. “I could bring them back for you, if you like. But it would cost you.”
Cleric shivered, trying to absorb this new information. “You… what are you, some kind of god?”
“I used to be.”
This was too much for Cleric. Wizard plotting a betrayal, secretly the one they were against all this time. Now they were dead, and a fallen god was offering to bring them back.
How could you, Cleric wanted to say. The party be damned, how could you do this to me?
That night in the tavern when they’d all gotten drunk, and Cleric had a bit too much. Woken up to find Wizard had carried them out and tended to them until they woke.
Their talks under the stars as they sat up together to keep watch, had all that been a lie?
The world settled, still as death, and all Cleric could do was watch their breaths, in and out, making fog clouds. Their own wounds felt superficial now, only a vague aching.
"What would I have to do," Cleric's teeth chattered, "to bring them back."
The dragon only blinked at them. "Only a small thing. It is a trifle, truly."
It was never a trifle, but it didn't matter. Likely some dangerous treasure hunt or a rare artifact.
"Wizard... Please, please tell me it's not true." Cleric's throat was hot and felt too thick for speaking. But already the clouds had begun to rescind, the fog to recede. Final Boss's curse was broken, a thing that could only come to pass when...
"Please." Cleric whispered before curling themselves into a small ball beside Wizard. Tears burned their eyes, and they refused to let them fall.
But they fell all the same.
From the beginning, Ranger and Rogue had made it clear they did not care much for Cleric. They were an inseparable pair. And then there was that time they'd tried to leave Cleric behind after the incident with the hags.
It was Wizard who’d come back for them. Wizard who'd stood by their side and refused to move forward without them.
Could all of that mean nothing?
Had it really come to this? A normal fight, just another contract they'd picked up, and now- it was all over? Their quest they'd set out on from the beginning, was it over and done with? Just like that? One lucky swipe of a dragon's claws and the dark curse was broken?
Cleric had not envisioned they'd spend this moment alone.
Yet here they were, alone on the ice with only their beating heart for company, and the sting of the moaning wind. The wind, and a talking dragon, and… and Wizard.
Wizard wouldn't really have betrayed Cleric… would they?
Cleric would have done anything for Wizard. Would have died for them, and Wizard would have done the same. Wasn't that the pact they had made the last time they'd faced a dangerous enemy together?
Dubious dragon-god or not, there was no quest too dangerous, no pain too great, that Cleric wasn't willing to endure.
They swallowed, and looked the dragon in the eyes, willing themselves not to shudder under the terrible gaze.
Could they go through with the deal? Resurrect Wizard and with them the curse that darkened the entire world? Become a traitor themselves?
But could they let go of the only friend they'd ever had?