Throne of bhaal, p.23
Throne of Bhaal,
p.23
But Sarevok, the Five and even Melissan had gone too far in acknowledging the essence of the Lord of Murder within the Bhaalspawn. They had fed and nurtured the small bit of evil within them, until it became consuming and they lost themselves to their father's fury. That was not the answer either.
He was a Child of Bhaal. It was a part of him. But only a part, nothing more. It did not define him—he would not let it define him. He was who he was, nothing more, nothing less. He was Abdel Adrian.
"I am Abdel Adrian." he declared once more, affirming his individuality against the force drawing him in toward a single, collective existence.
The current sucking him down toward the center of the pillar was suddenly gone, and Abdel was able to float back out into the void to confront Melissan again.
Surprised, she watched him emerge from the glowing column of divinity. Abdel casually swung his fist at Melissan's face. As before, her form simply dissolved and reformed, completely unharmed by his punch.
"Your fortitude and persistence surprise me, Bhaalspawn," she admitted. "But no matter. I have no need of your essence to complete my ascension. And once I am a god I will crush you without a second thought."
"You are no god," Abdel said simply. "You are Melissan, nothing more."
He reached out again and swung his fist through his foe's insubstantial form. But this time he felt a hint of resistance as he made contact. From the expression on her face as her spirit reformed, he knew Melissan felt it too.
"You are Melissan, Bhaal's Anointed," he insisted, "False protector of the Bhaalspawn. Betrayer of the Five. Manipulator. Liar. Deceiver. But you, Melissan, are no god. You are an invader in this realm. You are not a part of this world. You do not belong!"
Abdel's fist caught Melissan beneath a suddenly solid chin, and he felt the jaw bone crack beneath the force of his blow. Her hairless head snapped back, and her mouth twisted into an O of shock and pain.
Long before he had met Melissan or even Jaheira, long before he had any hint of his immortal heritage, Abdel had been a brawler. A blade for hire. A mercenary and a sellsword. He settled his disputes with fists and weapons, and all his problems could be solved with simple brute force.
With the knowledge of who and what he truly was, Abdel's life had become much more complicated. The responsibilities and challenges facing the son of a god were convoluted and complex, and required more than mere fisticuffs to solve. But now, on the cusp of immortality, facing the greatest challenge of his life, Abdel had returned to his simple roots.
"I am Abdel Adrian," he declared, slamming his heavy hands into Melissan again and again, "and you are no god."
He pummeled the suddenly all too physically real spirit of Melissan with his bare hands, pounding her body into submission as it feebly tried to ward off his fists. He beat the woman who had betrayed and manipulated him since Saradush until she was nothing but a bloody, bruised pulp of physical, mortal existence. Then he grabbed the thing that would be a god by its shoulders and hurled it into the glowing, pulsating pillar.
The column flared momentarily as Melissan's screaming form was consumed by the light. The essence of Bhaal that she had already managed to steal became one with the greater whole. The insignificant physical shell that remained—the part of Melissan that was still Melissan—was instantly and totally obliterated by the divine power.
Abdel waited for an eternity to be sure his enemy was truly gone. Once he was confident Melissan's existence had been completely annihilated, he willed himself back through the door between the void of Bhaal's true essence and the realm of the Abyss Bhaal had chosen to make his own.
Epilogue
He emerged from the door and found himself amid the thick, decaying vegetation once again. Abdel waved his hand, dispelling the entire jungle with a single thought. In the distance he could see a ring of sharp, forbidding mountains. These also vanished on nothing more than a whim.
"You have done well, Abdel Adrian."
Hearing the infinite voice of the celestial entity did not surprise Abdel. He doubted anything would surprise him for a very, very long time.
"Now what?" he asked, his voice betraying the weariness he felt in his very soul.
"You stand on the edge of godhood," the creature explained. "You are the last heir to Bhaal's immortality. It is yours to take."
Abdel shook his head. "It's not mine. It never was."
The creature tilted its head slightly. "There is much you can do with this power," it reminded him. "Your greatest desires can be achieved in an instant."
"Can I bring Jaheira back? Or Imoen? Or Gorion?"
"No," the being admitted. "Even a god must accept certain events as things that cannot be undone. But there is much you might accomplish as an immortal, Abdel."
"There is still much I can accomplish as a mere mortal," Abdel pointed out.
"Your wisdom is most unexpected in a Child of Bhaal."
Abdel shrugged. 'There is more to me than my bloodline."
"You understand that if you reject this destiny you will lose the essence of those you have absorbed within you. You will cease to be an avatar, and you will become a normal human male, with all the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of other men."
"I understand." With a rueful smile, Abdel added, "I'm looking forward to it. I was not meant to be a god, or even an avatar. It is not who I am."
"Then I shall free you from this burden."
Deep within his body Abdel felt the faintest pull. It lasted but a moment, and was completely painless. He peered into his soul and discovered only the tiniest ember of Bhaal's spirit within himself. This minuscule portion of immortal essence was his to keep. It had been a part of him at his birth and it would be a part of him when he died. But it was simply that. A part of him. A small, virtually insignificant piece of a much greater puzzle.
The big warrior turned his attention back to the celestial being who had guided him through this bizarre journey. Abdel couldn't read any emotion on the face of the man, but he sensed this was not the end the entity had anticipated.
"You seem disappointed."
"Not disappointed, merely surprised. This possible destiny was foreseen by the one I serve, but certainly it was not expected."
"What happens now?"
"I shall disperse the essence of Bhaal throughout the world," the celestial entity promised. "The Lord of Murder will disappear forever."
The words should have filled Abdel with joy, but he had lost too much, paid too dearly, to feel any happiness within his soul. Gorion, his foster father. Imoen, his sister. Jaheira, his true love. Even the death of the reborn Sarevok added to the seemingly infinite list of those who had stood by Abdel, and fallen.
"You are not responsible for those deaths, Abdel," the divine messenger assured him. "You cannot carry the guilt of their blood on your shoulders."
"And what of the pain?" Abdel asked. "Regardless of guilt, the pain is still there."
"Your wounds go deep," the being admitted, "but in time even your scars will heal, Abdel Adrian."
Abdel nodded, knowing it was true. But there was still something he needed to know.
"So what happens to me? What is my destiny now?"
The great figure standing before him vanished. The Abyssal realm of Bhaal dissolved, and Abdel found himself standing on a trail he had crossed many times before. A half mile to the north the road led to his childhood home of Candlekeep. To the south it met up with the trade routes that wound throughout the width and breadth of the Sword Coast, down into the Southlands and across the entire continent of Faerun.
Your destiny, the infinite voice said inside Abdel's head in answer to his question, is whatever you choose to make it.
Realizing he was once again wandering around completely naked, Abdel could only sigh. He hesitated a brief second, then started up the path toward the mountaintop silhouette of Candlekeep, just barely visible in the rapidly fading sun.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
Drew Karpyshyn, Throne of Bhaal
