Chapter Text
This was it. They’d finally made it. After months on the road, racing against a clock that spelled their impending doom, the rag tag group of would-be heroes now stood before the Elder Brain. The one called the Absolute.
The emperor stood with its back towards all but the group’s unassuming leader, Zevodur, while it wielded the nether stones. Stones which they had fought hard to obtain in order to lead them to this very moment.
From behind the black-skinned Drow, Astarion leaned forward. “We should take this power for ourselves,” he hissed.
The drow’s gaze slipped towards his companion for a moment, his face impassive before it returned to watching the emperor.
There was a quick flash of silver before a dagger appeared in the drow’s hand and he drove it into the side of the emperor. The mind flayer shrieked in surprise and turned towards its supposed ally only to freeze at as the visage before it melted.
Zevodur’s form shifted and changed until something much more sinister looking stood in his place. The figure towered above its heroic companions, skin a dark onyx broken up by rings of green. Its golden eyes glowed menacingly as four tentacles writhed from where its mouth should be.
The Emperor’s eyes widened at the sight in recognition at the irregular looking mind flayer before it. “You’re Draizar, the traitor,” it gasped, its suddenly shocked voice echoing to those in attendance as it bled out before them.
The black mind flayer’s eyes narrowed. “That once was my name. But I abandoned it long ago.”
“You…you were a mindflayer this whole time?” Wyll asked, taking a tentative step back as he stared at the creature before him in horror.
Without looking, the mind flayer in question spoke. “Correct.”
“I kissed you! I danced with you! I even…I even told you I loved you and that I wanted to spend my life with you, and you agreed.” He felt like his entire world had been yanked out from underneath him. He’d sworn to hunt down monsters, and yet here he was, his heart aching as he realized that the very being he had fallen for was a monster. “Was it all a lie? Was it all some game to you? Was I someone to be manipulated and used?”
The illithid turned its golden gaze on Wyll, tentacles shifting ever so slightly as it studied him. “At first, our alliance and everything that followed were a means to an end. But over time, throughout our journey, I began to feel…affection for you. All of you. I do not feel affection like you, or at least not as strongly. Such is one of the many burdens of being an illithid.”
The creature paused for a moment, fixing its gazed on the would-be heroes. “Many times I considered revealing my true self, removing the veil I had cast over your minds in order to convince you I was anything but what I am. But I feared that any attempts to do so might very well end in my death. Even more so after the Emperor revealed its true form to you all.”
“Does that mean you knew what the Emperor was?” Astarion questioned, his voice laced with curiosity.
“I had my suspicions. I could sense a powerful psionic force resonating from the prism, not to mention the way it spoke in half-truths like my kind have a propensity to do. Although until it revealed itself, my suspicions were just that, suspicions.”
“How come it couldn’t tell what you were?” Gale asked.
The mindflayer’s expression shifted to one that seemed almost smug as its eyes gleamed. “I have my own ways of shielding myself against my own kind.”
“But then, why reveal yourself now?” Shadowheart asked. “Why not keep up the facade until you got what you wanted?”
“Ah, that is the question of the hour,” it said before it turned towards the netherstones, allowing them to shift and float over its palm as it once more faced the would-be heroes. “The answer is simple, because we have now come to a point in our journey where you all have a choice to make.”
“A choice? What choice?” Astarion questioned.
“I intend to control the netherbrain. I’m giving you the choice tol join me as allies, become an unwilling servant, or die by my hands.”
“You would enslave us?!” Karlach growled. “You’re just as bad as Gortash!”
“Gortash would have enslaved you or quite possibly turned you into mindflayers. After all, he follows the god of tyranny. Enslavement is in his nature.”
“What about you, it’s your nature too, isn’t it,” Gale pointed out.
The creature hesitated. “It is true that my kind seek to enslave the other races, as we once did to the gith people, but I am not like my brethren. While I may coerce others to do as I wish from time to time, forcing someone to unwillingly do what I want leaves a bad taste in my ah…mouth–so to speak.”
“Then why give us this choice? Destroy the netherbrain and do the right thing,” Wyll suggested.
“The right thing…what benefit does that give me aside from the feeling of knowing I did something good ? Even if I were to destroy the brain, I would gain nothing. I would not be seen as a hero, but as a monster needed to be hunted down and killed. Especially after the madness that has been inflicted on this city by the Dead Three’s Chosen.”
“We would know what you did, you would always be remembered by us as a hero.”
The mind flayer regarded him. “Your heroic spirit never ceases to fascinate me, but I’m afraid I cannot do that. Like you once were, I am soul bound to a powerful being beyond anything the mortal mind can comprehend. A being which grants me greater powers than I could ever achieve on my own, and it has its own demands. So again, I ask you to make your choice.”
“I thought you were better than this. After all these months together, helping people…you now want to enslave everyone and control an army of mindflayers! Burn in the Hells!” Karlach shouted, raising her axe to charge at the mind flayer.
It sighed and when it next spoke, its voice sounded disappointed, but not surprised. “Very well then. Good bye, friend,” it said as its tentacles shifted and Karlach froze in place before falling to her knees.
The axe fell from her hand and landed with a thunk as her eyes widened and she clutched her head. Then she let out the most blood curdling scream as her entire body lit on fire.
Those around her moved back out of range of her flames, and Wyll could feel the intense heat as he watched, helpless while she screamed in pain. And then, all too soon, she was gone, her body nothing but ash. The others stared in shock at her remains aside from the black-skinned mindflayer who watched in silence, its face giving nothing away.
“Holy Hells, you killed her,” Wyll whispered, a horror washing through him, sending a chill up his spine.
“She tried to kill me, I defended myself with the help of my patron.”
“So you’ll do the same to us if we refuse you?” Shadowheart asked.
“I will not kill you or allow my patron to do so if you do not attack me.”
“Why would your patron grant you so much freedom? I know just how tight a leash they can have on you,” Wyll scoffed.
The mindflayer once more fixed its piercing golden eyes on Wyll. “Unlike you, I am not only a mere warlock. I am its Chosen, its Champion. It has granted me abilities far beyond that of any of its followers. It gives me plenty of freedom to do as I wish, and so I serve it willingly.”
“You’re a monster!” Wyll shouted, balling his hands into fists.
The mindflayer tipped its head at Wyll like he was some sort of curiosity. “Aren’t we all? Each and every one of us who went on this…” it paused and waved a hand in the air, “adventure had something about us that was monstrous.”
It glanced around at the group. “We had our charming githyanki who, when I didn’t free the Prince of her people, tried to kill me. Karlach, the displaced tiefling with an infernal engine instead of a heart, forced to fight in a war she didn’t sign up for. Gale, a wizard who’s own curiosity and pining led to carrying a magical bomb in his chest. Astarion, an actual vampire. Shadowheart, a child torn from her parents and indoctrinated to be a Cleric of Shar. And you, Wyll, the son of a Duke who sold his soul to a devil to protect his city, who grew horns to protect a tiefling he’d only just met, and then broke his pact and let his father die.”
“You encouraged me to do that!”
“Yes, but it was your choice to make in the end. If you had wanted to keep your leash, you could have done so. It was your decision to break your pact, and thus signed away your father’s fate. You could have also snuck off or gone to the underwater prison on your own, you did not need me to come with you.”
“I…” Wyll stopped. The illithid spoke the truth. It had been his decision. “You’re right,” he conceded, once more feeling the guilt of that decision weighing down on him.
“Your fates do not have to be like that of Karlach’s. In fact, I wish it had been different, but she always was a little hot-headed.”
“You threatened to enslave or kill us and you didn’t expect her to fight back?” Shadowheart asked. “Of course she would have a problem with it. Who wouldn’t?”
The mindflayer’s tentacles twitched. “On the contrary. I expected it from her, as I do the rest of you, but this is my way of trying to beseech you to choose a different fate. I do not want to kill you all, but I will should you force my hand.”
“You don’t need to twist my arm, I’ll gladly be your ally,” Astarion said.
“I will also join you. As allies go, I could do worse. Besides you helped me in ways most wouldn’t even try, that means something,” Shadowheart remarked.
“I need the Crown of Karsus to prevent the orb from exploding. How do you attempt to control the netherbrain and keep that from happening?” Gale inquired.
The mindflayer tilted its head. “I’ve been thinking about that. It is not something I have an answer for at this current juncture, but I might be able to use some power from the crown to stabilize your orb until we can figure out a permanent solution.”
“Well, I suppose that is better than nothing. I would rather not fight an ally such as yourself.”
The mindflayer dipped its head as if nodding. “I knew you would see reason,” it said before it turned its attention to Wyll. The only one left who hadn’t made a decision.
He could feel the gaze of his fellow companions on him as he stared at the creature who had been manipulating him this entire time. It had said it felt affection for him, but for all he knew, that could be one more manipulation to get him on its side. To garner sympathy or to make it seem not as evil as it was. After all, it had killed Karlach without hesitation. It was a monster.
The more he thought about it, Wyll remembered seeing it helping others from time to time. Sure, the illithid before him hadn’t seemed to go out of its way to help unless it was promised some sort of reward. Before now he’d thought that it was because of the looming threat of the tadpole, but considering it was a mindflayer already, there was no tadpole to speak of. Perhaps it was being pragmatic, as was common with mind flayers. Wyll had seen first hand some of its logical conclusions, even if he didn’t agree with them all.
But then why do all this? Why reveal its true nature and then give them all the choice in their fate? It stated that it didn’t want to enslave them, but that didn’t seem to extend to the innocent people of the sword coast. Although that could have something to do with its pact. Wyll knew all too well the downsides of a pact, he bore the result of breaking one on his head where everyone could see.
“If I join you, will you spare the people of Baldur’s Gate?” Wyll asked.
The mindflayer regarded him, and for the first time since it had revealed itself, Wyll thought he saw a look of regret and sadness on its face. “There is only so much I can do without defying my patron’s wishes, and the price for breaking mine would be much more catastrophic than yours. I can promise that they will not be killed by my army – at least not for food, but I cannot guarantee their safety should they attempt to attack me or my allies.”
Wyll met the golden gaze of the mindflayer and contemplated his choices. He could assume that if he didn’t join with it, he would probably become its slave and the people would suffer. If he did accept its offer, then perhaps he could help steer the worst of the damage and protect the people. He didn’t like either option, and he hated he had been put into this situation, but he couldn’t think of any other solution for the time being.
“Fine, I will join you,” he sighed, the words poison uttered from his lips.
“Excellent,” the mindflayer said before it turned back towards the fallen Emperor and the netherbrain as the stones began to glow and shift. Wyll closed his eyes and turned his head away, unable to bear seeing what was to transpire. All the while he felt like he was signing away his soul once more, but this time to a being that had also taken his heart.