After dedicating a considerable amount of time, roughly the better part of an hour, to attending to Williams' severe burns, Halsin moved him over to an empty tent that had already been set up earlier by Astarion and Karlach.
He carefully laid Williams' body down within the tent, ensuring that he was positioned as comfortably as possible.
"While his physical body is clearly healed, it seems his mind has fallen into some sort of forced trance-like state."
He paused to look at the surroundings that had mostly been cleaned of goblin and bugbear corpses.
"We may need to wait a while for him to regain full consciousness.
In the meantime, let's establish a secure camp here, as the location provides excellent defensive advantages."
As they began setting up their surroundings with a series of traps that were both quick to deploy and incredibly effective, William found himself completely lost in the depth of his own thoughts, feeling as if he were surrounded by an endless, impenetrable darkness.
"Where am I?"
His lips moved, but his voice, instead of sounding like spoken words, seemed to emerge directly from his thoughts, as if he were thinking aloud without ever actually saying a word.
He made an effort to scan his surroundings, but the concept of a neck, as far as he could understand, didn't seem to apply to him in the slightest.
Furthermore, even if he had been able to see, there was nothing there to see anyway, as the void enveloping him was utterly complete and all-consuming.
Time seemed to completely lose all meaning as he drifted aimlessly through the absolute void, a sensation of utter nothingness surrounding him.
However, just as he was about to succumb to the overwhelming lack of sensation and stimulation, a blinding flash of light erupted directly in front of him.
William was unable to see anything for a few moments, but soon his vision returned little by little.
As his vision began to sharpen, he could make out something that must have been a mirror reflecting his own image.
In that moment, he discovered that he was able to move his own head, and the image in the mirror reacted accordingly, perfectly mirroring his movements.
He walked, or perhaps more accurately, floated, directly in front of the mirror and gently placed his hand against its cool surface.
WHOOSH!
From the point where his hand met the mirrors surface it began to ripple outward, similar to when a stone is tossed into a pond.
The ripples began to take on the form of glowing words.
[CHARACTER SHEET — WILLIAM]
Race: Half-Drow (Half-Elf) ????
Class: Aberrant Mind Sorcerer/Oath of Vengeance Paladin
Level: 4
Alignment: Neutral
Background: Sage
Origin: A half-drow marked by alien whispers that coil through his thoughts like living scripture.
[STATS]
Attribute – Value – Modifier
Strength – 8 (–1)
Dexterity – 16 (+3)
Constitution – 14 (+2)
Intelligence – 12 (+1)
Wisdom – 10 (+0)
Charisma – 16 (+3)
[CORE TRAITS]
Fey Ancestry
Immune to magical sleep; advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Darkvision
Can see in darkness up to 60 feet.
Drow Heritage
Gains Dancing Lights cantrip.
Telepathic Speech
Can communicate telepathically with a chosen creature within 30 feet.
[PROFICIENCIES]
Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
Skills: Arcana, History, Insight, Deception, Perception, Stealth
[Armor Proficiencies]
• Light Armor
• Medium Armor
• Shields
[Weapon Proficiencies]
• Simple Weapons
• Martial Weapons
• Rapier – Precision, speed, and lethal intent
• Longsword – Traditional oathblade, versatile and elegant
• Shortsword – Ideal for close, controlled engagements
• Whip – Symbolic of Vengeance, control, and reach
• Light Crossbow – Practical, disciplined, and surgical
[SORCERY FEATURES]
Sorcery Points: 3
Used to fuel Metamagic and bend spells beyond their natural limits.
[METAMAGIC]
Quicken Spell
William can compress a spell into a heartbeat, casting it as a Bonus Action by spending Sorcery Points.
Twinned Spell
When William casts a spell that targets only one creature, he can split the effect between two targets simultaneously.
[SPELL LIST]
Cantrips
Dancing Lights (racial)
Mage Hand
Minor Illusion
Fire Bolt
Prestidigitation
Level 1 Spells
Wrathful Smite
High-damage melee attack that can Frighten the target.
Thunderous Smite
High damage, pushes enemies back, and potentially knocks them Prone.
Searing Smite
Adds fire damage to attacks and causes burning.
Command
Command a creature to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground or drop its weapon. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw Wisdom saving throw in order to resist the effects.
Arms of Hadar
Writhing void-tendrils erupt outward, crushing and clawing at nearby enemies while dragging shadows across the ground.
Dissonant Whispers
A psychic intrusion that floods the target with alien terror, forcing them to flee as their mind screams.
Darkness
A sphere of absolute shadow that blinds creatures within. Ranged attacks cannot pass through it. Vision dies here.
Level 2 Spells
Misty Step
William dissolves into a ripple of warped space and reappears up to 30 feet away.
Tasha's Mind Whip
You psychically lash out at one creature you can see within range. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw.
On a failed save, the target takes 3d6 psychic damage, and it can't take a reaction until the end of its next turn.
Moreover, on its next turn, it must choose whether it gets a move, an action, or a bonus action; it gets only one of the three.
On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and suffers none of the spell's other effects.
William nodded with satisfaction as he read the stat page that appeared beside his reflection, his white hair spilling over his strikingly handsome face.
His mirrored image revealed a few more marks from battles with goblins, one a jagged scar running along his leg, another a shallow line marring his back, and the last a spot on his shoulder where an arrow had struck.
"Well," he said with a lopsided grin, "they say ladies love a man with a few scars. And seeing as my face survived without so much as a scratch, I'd call that a double victory."
He paused, the memory of feeling like a rotisserie chicken creeping in and making him shiver, before turning back to the mirror.
With a dramatic sigh of relief, he announced, "No burns… excellent. The best decision I ever made was dragging along a healer!"
The image on the mirror's surface rippled and shifted, revealing the precise moment that had led him to his current predicament: the sight of his body slowly blackening and charring under the mere touch of a Tiefling woman.
Her fury blazed with an intensity akin to a blacksmith's forge, yet not any ordinary forge, but one that burned in the infernal depths of hell itself.
The image lingered long after he finally lost active consciousness, while Halsin fought valiantly to heal the worst of his wounds.
At the same time, Astarion and Karlach worked tirelessly to set up camp with both traps and tents, moving swiftly and with purpose.
In the midst of it all, he noticed, with striking clarity, the distraught and sorrowful eyes of Karlach as she fought to hold back tears, tears that transformed into steam before they could even fall.
He witnessed Astarion hand her a handkerchief, which began to smoke in her hands as she used it, the fabric igniting before she could hand it back to him, causing Astarion to let out a dramatic gasp as he recoiled from attempting to take back the item.
William chuckled to himself in the void, seeing such a thing had brought him back into a good humor, and as if in response to his emotions, the void around him began to ripple, the depressing darkness shifting into brilliant blue.
Gazing across the shimmering expanse of blue, William wondered, "Can I control this place?"
Determined to uncover the truth, he focused his mind with unwavering intensity, at first detecting only a faint ripple skimming the water's surface.
Slowly, this delicate disturbance grew in magnitude, evolving into a formidable wave of psionic energy that coursed through the immense azure void with the inevitability and force of a rising tide.
Far in the distance, he discerned tiny motes of psionic light coalescing into lush, green landmasses, their vibrant forms emerging from the void as if drawn forth by his will.
The motes multiplied
What had begun as scattered sparks of psionic light now swelled into drifting continents, each one unfurling from the void like a thought finally allowed to finish forming.
Emerald plains rolled outward, stitched together by silver-veined rivers that glowed faintly, as though they remembered being ideas before they were water.
Forests erupted in sudden, breathless growth, trees spiraling upward in moments, their leaves humming softly with latent energy.
More land answered his focus.
Islands slid through the blue expanse, drawn together by an unseen gravity, their edges grinding and locking with deep, resonant thooms that echoed across the mental sky. Mountains rose where seams met, jagged spines thrusting upward as if the world itself were bracing.
The void recoiled with each connection, the endless blue thinning, retreating, conceding territory.
William felt it then.
Not sight.
Not touch.
Ownership.
The first landmass pulsed, brighter than the rest, and he sensed its recognition as the others drifted closer.
When they finally met, the joining was not violent but intimate, like thoughts aligning after long disagreement.
A wave of energy rippled across the forming world, washing over hills and forests alike, knitting them into something singular.
The ground beneath his feet firmed.
For the first time since waking in the void, he felt weight.
William inhaled sharply as air rushed into lungs he hadn't realized he was missing.
The scent of fresh earth filled him, rich and alive, threaded with something sharper, something alien beneath the green.
Above, the sky shifted, no longer an infinite blue, but a vaulted firmament streaked with slow-moving auroras of violet and gold.
He lowered his gaze to his hands.
They were solid.
The land continued to expand beyond the horizon, bridges of stone and light forming spontaneously, stretching outward to claim more of the void.
Each new connection fed back into him, a quiet hum in the back of his mind, as though the world were whispering its gratitude for being allowed to exist.
"This is…" He hesitated, searching for the right word.
Mine.
The realization settled without arrogance, without fear. It simply was. This place responded to him because it was born of him. Thought given topology.
Will given soil.
Far away, at the edge of the newly formed continent, the blue void shuddered once more. Something resisted there, a darker hue swirling beneath the surface, slow and watchful, as if it had been waiting for the land to finish assembling.
William felt it then.
Not control.
Not yet.
But a boundary.
And instinctively, he knew that crossing it would change more than just this place.
The land finished locking into itself with a final, thunderous resonance, the world whole for now.
William stood at its center, white hair stirring in a wind that hadn't existed a moment before, and wondered not if he could shape this realm further…
…but what it would demand in return.
William understood very well that power, no matter how desirable, often comes with a price attached.
But suddenly something changed.
Warmth crept in before he understood it.
Not the abstract warmth of emotion or triumph, but the very real, physical kind.
The kind that settled beneath the skin and lingered there, slow and insistent.
William became aware of it in stages, first as a dull pressure, then as a spreading heat that refused to be ignored.
His brow dampened.
A faint sheen of sweat clung to his neck, his chest, his arms, as though his body were quietly insisting on reminding him that it still existed somewhere else.
"That's… new," he muttered.
The world beneath his feet remained steady, obedient, but the hum at the back of his mind shifted.
It no longer felt purely internal.
Something was bleeding through.
William turned toward the mirror, which still hovered nearby like a patient sentinel.
He lifted one hand and crooked two fingers in a casual beckoning motion.
"Alright," he said softly. "Come here."
The mirror glided forward, its surface rippling as it drew close.
The reflection wavered, then sank inward, the glass thinning until it became less mirror and more window.
The outside world bled through.
The soft, silvery glow of moonlight managed to penetrate the canvas of the tent, painting everything in a pale silver hue with subtle shadows.
Bedrolls, packs, the gentle rise and fall of his own chest.
And Karlach.
She was inside the tent with him.
William's breath caught.
She hadn't touched him.
Not a hand, not a finger.
Instead of actively engaging, she simply curled up beside her, close enough that the heat radiating from her was undeniable, yet far enough away to maintain a clear sense of space, a boundary she clearly felt she had to respect.
Her right arm was neatly tucked beneath her head, while her left arm lay loosely across her torso. Despite her considerable size, her posture was remarkably careful and deliberate.
Her infernal engine pulsed faintly beneath her skin, a soft, steady glow like embers banked low rather than a roaring blaze.
She was shivering.
Not violently, but enough to notice.
Enough to tell him she was regulating herself.
Holding back.
William watched her gaze, which initially landed directly on him, then quickly darted away again. As she looked away, he could see a subtle tightening of her jaw, as though she were trying to hold back the urge to reach out and touch him.
She wasn't warming herself.
She was warming him.
A quiet, almost imperceptible laugh escaped him deep within his mind. It was a breathless, disbelieving laugh. "You absolutely beautiful menace," he murmured to himself, not unkindly, but with a hint of admiration.
In the mirror, her eyes softened as she looked at him again, lingering just a second longer this time, as if willing him to wake and look at her.
"Don't you worry," William said, his voice barely above a whisper. He wasn't sure if the words were really reaching anywhere at all, but he felt compelled to say them. "I'm still here."
William closes his eyes in the mental world, feeling a pull from reality, and suddenly his eyes open on the outside, his silvery, stormy eyes meeting her burning gaze.
He smiled warmly at her and said, "You have a very warm presence, it's nice." He then reached out and gently patted her hand. In that moment, the softness of the touch sent a jolt through Karlach's heart, causing it to flutter as though she were experiencing a sudden palpitation.