The... instinct.
The instinct kept gnawing at what was left of her soul within her. It had been hard enough reining it in when she was whole, and now it was almost becoming an impossibility to control it. Day by day it demanded murder, it demanded blood spilt from others. She was going insane. She knew she was. What else could describe her dreams of killing the ones she would call friends? The smile on her face as she cradled the head of a dead Imoen.
It was only the instinct egging her on, or was it? She never told the rest about these dreams of course; how could she?
It was all his fault. Him and his cowardly sister. Yessss... that was it. She could blame it all on them. It was not her fault for thinking about these thoughts! It had always been them! He was the one who targeted her! He was the one who stole her soul! He! HE!
Rena clutched her face with one hand and laughed. In due time... in due time, she thought to herself. All in due time...
~~~~ ~~~~
Jaheira had been... doubtful of her plan, but Rena knew it would work. Since the entire cosmos wanted a piece of Rena, Rena would give them a piece alright, a piece of her mind. Her veins throbbed from the absurd amounts of magical energy flowing through her, and it was all she could do to just stay still.
One minute. No... less than that. Ten seconds. That was all she needed. Ten seconds.
~~~~ ~~~~
The doors to Bodhi's final chamber blew wide open from Rena's kick. Fuelled by a potion, she possessed the strength of a Storm Giant and the doors had slammed shudderingly against the walls, barely hanging onto their hinges, crushing an unfortunate Grim Warder. The Vampires' initial reaction was that of shock, and it was to their credit that they managed to regain their composure fairly quickly.
"You must either be a brave one or a foolish one, for you to have come here alon-", Bodhi had started to say, but she never got to complete her sentence because Rena had already sprinted right in front of her face( her speed powered by the Boots of Haste in addition to Improved Haste) and clocked her with the hilt of Sanchuudoku.
"YOU ARE MAD!", Bodhi managed to shouted, before a terrible chain reaction of events started. Terrible for Bodhi, that is.
It had been calculated. Everything that Rena was doing now, was calculated. As a trained Assassin from Baldur's Gate, and with some advanced lessons from the Shadow Thieves in Athkhala, Rena was well-versed in the art of turning an enemy's strength against himself. Using her vampiric powers, Bodhi had protected herself with two variations of Fire Shields. She thought it to be a blessing. Rena was now going to teach her, in Bodhi's final lesson, that it was going to be her curse.
"NO! No, no, no!", Bodhi screeched in pain, as dozens and dozens of small acidic arrows darted her. With Rena in such close proximity, her punch with Sanchuudoku triggered Bodhi's fireshields, which triggered Rena's fireshields and Sanchuudoku, which triggered back Bodhi's fireshields, and so on and so forth.
However... Rena was immuned to Bodhi's Fireshields. Bodhi on the other hand...
Then the bats came. Bodhi had trained bats to attack her attackers, and now she would regret that decision, though she would not live long for regrets. By being in such close contact with Rena's state of Improved Haste, the bats attacked twice as fast, which meant that they triggered Sanchuudoku twice as fast, which meant it accelerated the vicious chain reaction even more.
All in the room held their breath in awe as Rena and Bodhi spasmed violently from the relentless eye-for-an-eye reaction.
Time seemed to stretch for an eternity as the horror of the scene unfolded before them. In reality, only six seconds had passed. Arkanis had not even reach his target yet, and Drizzt himself had not even stepped foot into the chamber...
"No! NO! It's mine! This life is mine!", Bodhi screamed in terror, as her Contingency spell forcefully kicked in and temporarily stopped the chain reaction, casting a Heal spell on her which restored all her health.
"Oh shut up, b****. You annoy me," Rena coldly replied, as she backslapped Bodhi with Sanchuudoku again, starting the chain reaction again.
"Noooo!", Bodhi screamed in pain as her body started to melt from the excessive amount of acidic arrows hitting it, "Stop attacking her, stop it! Somebody! Breach me! Breach me! Remove my Fire Shields! HELP ME!"
It would all be in vain. The bats continued to mindlessly attack Rena. Bodhi's Fireshields were unBreachable. In a matter of seconds...
she died. Just in time to coincide with Drizzt's and Arkanis' first kill, a lone Grim Warder.
Artemis quavered. This was not in his books. "I leave her to you!", he shouted to the Vampires as he hurled himself into combat with Arkanis and Drizzt. Hazarmaveth and Manasseh were the survivoring Vampires, and at the present moment, their lips were flapping like a goldfish. Their Mistress, the one and only Bodhi, had more or less died to this girl within ten seconds.
"Hazar... I'm scared!", Manasseh whimpered as she observed the heavily-breathing child of Bhaalspawn hunch in front of them. Arkanis' death cry was heard. He had apparently been defeated by Artemis.
"S-stay... stay strong, Mana dear. Bodhi's not finished yet! She-"
As if on cue, Rena hurled a stake at Bodhi's sarcophagus with the strength of a Storm Giant. The stake smashed into the sarcophagus like a cannonball smashing into a house of glass, shattering the stone coffin and forcibly impaling the carcass of Bodhi within. It was a miracle that the stake did not splinter beforehand.
"She is...", Rena started, "Very much dead, and is going to remain so."
Artemis' death cry was heard then. Drizzt had apparently managed to avenge Arkanis.
"Rena!", Drizzt shouted, "I'm on my way!"
"Stay out of this, Drow!", Hazarmaveth snarled as
she killed Drizzt, "This is between us and her! For Bodhi!"
Rena smiled as Hazarmaveth approached her. Rena did not move, and did not even bother to avoid Hazarmaveth's attack. As Hazarmaveth clawed against Rena's armour, the chain reaction started, and even faster than before, Hazarmaveth died.
Rena laughed. Only she and Manasseh were left in the chamber. "Don't you Vampires ever learn? No... it's not 'don't'... it's 'won't'. Won't you Vampires ever learn? It's a
BAAAAD idea to lay hands on Rena. Come on... touch me. I DARE you."
Manasseh screamed in fear. She was totally hysterical now, and she tried to run away, run to the open doors that Rena had kicked aside earlier; but there would be no escape. Rena ran faster, and slammed the doors shut.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What's the matter? I thought you ALL wanted to get Rena, attack Rena, harm Rena, hurt Rena. Rena this, Rena that. Well screw you all. The fun's just started. I barely had any so far in this fight, you know. Won't you entertain me? Servant of darkness?"
"NOOOO! Stay away from me! GO AWAY!"
Cold laughter was Rena's response, as she casually strolled after a panicking Manasseh around the blood pool in the chamber. Manasseh tried many ways to avoid Rena, such as casting Shadow Door on herself, but
Rena just casted True Sight in response.
"Hmm... you know, I got like a gazillion scrolls with me, and I had always wanted to experiment with some of them. What do you think? Care to be a test subject?"
Manasseh just screamed and ran away from Rena.
"Feh... this is getting boring."
Rena took out a scroll of Breach and
Breached Manasseh. Stripped of her combat protections, Manasseh kept running in a futile attempt to escape. It was not long before
Rena gibbed her.
The battle over, Imoen entered the chambers.
"I feel... I feel better now. I feel whole now," Imoen said.
Rena smiled thinly, "As do I... as do I." Not so true on the whole part, Rena thought, but she definitely felt better.
Jon Irenicus... Jon Irenicus...
ALL, in due time.
~~~~ ~~~~
To be continued...
Editor's Note: More details about the Bodhi battle coming up next.