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They all had high hopes things would go in their favor. After overcoming one challenge after another and gathering a veritable army of fellow victims of The Absolute, the companions were confident in their ability to save the world… or at least Baldur's Gate.
So, when everything began to fall apart around them and all their efforts fell short of any resounding success against the cultists, the time had come for one if them to make a difficult decision.
The world rested squarely on Gale's shoulders. He tried to fight, to overcome, but even he had his limits. They all did. This had now become a suicide mission whether he liked it or not.
“No!” Wyll shouted. "We can still do this!"
But they couldn't. They all knew it and no amount of feigned confidence would be enough to overcome the situation they'd found themselves in.
There was no time for goodbyes. There was scarcely enough time to gather everyone atop the brain fast enough to teleport them all to safety before Gale had a chance to talk himself out of his martyrdom. But, as the magic faded, one person remained when there should have been none.
“Sagora!” His eyes were wide with horror. “You have to go!”
She shook her head fervently with tears in her eyes. “No. I won’t!”
Chaos erupted around them as Gale deflected a number of attacks. He used every spell in his arsenal to keep her safe. “PLEASE!” He’d never been so fraught with fear. Even when his own life was hanging in the balance after he’d been consumed by the orb, there was only acceptance for his folly. But, this was raw terror. As quick as his hands could move, he cast a spell that shimmered around them, surrounding them with a faint iridescence that deflected every spell hurled in their direction. “Sagi, you need to live!” His hands gripped her shoulders as he gazed desperately into her eyes. “You’ll die up here! Just let me go! Please, baby, please… don’t—”
She cradled his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his. “Gale… I told you, we’re in this together. I refuse to let you do this alone.”
Mind flayers started closing in on them and they replied, in unison, with a thunderous spell that sent their enemies flying.
Gale looked at her then, his fear waning from the conviction in her gaze. “Last chance, love.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Not without you.”
He nodded, swallowing hard as the reality of what he had to do finally began to sink in. “Alright then…” His heart hammered in his chest as he turned away from her, looking up at the luminous pulsing of the crown atop the netherbrain before casting the spell that would make their end. The dagger shimmered in his shaky grip as it materialized, his eyes fixed on the jagged edges of the spellblade. Then, a familiar weight wrapped around him like a blanket and his eyes squeezed shut.
“I’ve got you,” Sagora whispered in his ear as she tightened her arms around his body like a lifeline. “At the edge of the world, remember?”
“I remember,” he wept as the protective aura around them faded away. “I love you.”
It was now, or never. He lifted the blade to his chest, the point centered on the orb as it began to illuminate.
“I love you, too.” She kissed the column of his neck, relishing in the last time her lips would taste the salty musk of his warm skin, and breathing in the unique smell of him as her final memories before everything faded away.
Silence followed after he gasped. The eerie hush that fell around them as a white-hot light burst forth and exploded like a dying star, taking the world around them with it before it all went black.
The ground shook as the netherbrain fell out of the sky and cultists crumbled into blighted husks. Yet, while a city rejoiced, the companions stood among the wreckage in bittersweet solemnity. They’d won. They survived. And, it felt awful. Even the newly regained silence that settled in their minds wasn’t enough to quell the aching absence of their friends.
While the city was rebuilt anew, a statue was erected at the edge of the harbor. A memorial. A druid and her beloved wizard, standing together bravely as the heroes who saved a city. A living reminder of their sacrifice born from love and devotion as they stood together at the end of the world.