They had all come so far, dammit. They were all so close. A group of unlikely companions, forged together in the heat of combat, and able to slay gods and voidwoken alike. An exiled prince, searching for his destined lover; a solo mercenary, hunting the man he swore to protect; an escaped slave, hunting down her previous master; a host to demons, seeking freedom; a remnant of a previous race, damning his people to the void; a bastard to an empire, seeking to end his sister; and a lost nobody, just happy to have people he could call his friends.

If you were to ask Zirconas a couple years previously that he would be chosen to be the next divine, chosen to uphold a mantle synonymous to the gods themselves, he would have laughed at them and thanked them for the compliment.

If you were to have asked him that he would have made best friends with a haughty skeleton, who was one of the few survivors of a race he never knew existed, he would have told them that was a good joke.

If you were to tell him that he would slay the gods, and Lucian the Divine. He would have questioned their sanity.

And now… if you were to tell him that he would have to forget all that has happened, and become the god that people need… he would have told them to go fuck themselves.

THEY WERE SO GODS DAMN CLOSE!

One step away, the final battle. They had gone through the worst the world, demons, and voidwoken could send and yet everyone died at the end.

Everybody, but Zirconas.

They had told him to accept it, they all voiced their support in him becoming the next divine, that had almost made him cry. They had all sacrificed themselves, despite all they still could do, just for him.

And now, staring at the well of power that would make him a god, he just wanted to start over again. Forget all that has happened, and go to a simpler time.

The arena they fought in was crumblings. The hexagonal tiles that made up the floor fading away into the void. It is quite obvious wherever they are is no longer the realm at which they hail from. Even the blue aura that seems to encompass everything seems to be fading away, it turning a more sickly gray hue.

He didn't have much time left.

Zirconas dragged himself to his feet, his entire body damning him in pain, his mind bleeding in exhaustion from the fight, and turned to his fallen friends.

He had made up his mind, there was no question about it.

The world needed a divine to protect them. They would get 7. He wasn't going to let his friends be forgotten.

And so he took the first step, towards the well of source, his broken leg nearly making him collapse.

And yet he persevered grinding his teeth together and trudging on, taking another step

And another

And another

Until he was faced with the swirling vortex of source, the very power that had maken him who he was, and the power that would make him a god.

He turned back to his friends one last time, as if fearing that they had disappeared while he was struggling, they still limply lied there.

Turning back he smiled.

"Don't worry guys, just a bit longer," he whispered out, hoping that they could hear him.

Time to fulfill his destiny. Time to become divine.

He took the final step, plunging himself into the vortex, source spilling into his veins, rebuilding tissue, healing all his wounds. It coursed through his skin, perfecting him, turning into a being to rival the gods of gods. It took the fragile body of a lone human and turned it into an impenetrable bastion.

He could feel the power flow through him. It was intoxicating. The power he held before felt like a mere flicker compared to the bonfire he now wields. He could fight entire armies with the flick of the wrist, topple entire cities with a single word… revive fallen friends.

His bones snapped together, his flesh knitting itself together, his mind expanding for his new found power. Now healed, he turned back again to his friends and held out a hand. Source billed out of the outstretched hand, licking the air like wisps of fire, waiting for a target.

Like zealots listening to a god, source built up on the outstretched hand, a blinding corona of vanilla light emanating from his finger.

Zirconas smiled one last time, it was time for them to become divine.

And he let the source go, it streaming out of his finger like a raging waterfall.

And then it all went white.

When he awoke, he couldn't help but grin.

Even more he couldn't help but laugh.

As he stood up and looked around him, relief flooded his body. All his friends, they were alive. Asleep yet alive. That is all he could have asked for.

They looked slightly worse for wear, but they were all alive.

So for the first time in what felt like years, Zirconas sat down, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

And for the first time in what felt like years, he let out tears of joy.

And for the first time in what felt like years, he was happy as things were.

"Having experienced death I can tell you I'm quite unimpressed."

Zirconas looked at Fane and grinned. The skeleton was the first to wake. At first he seemed confused, having thought that he was in the Hall of Echoes, the virtual heaven for Rivelon, but a quick explanation from Zirconas told Fane that he had simply just cheated death.

Fane being the skeleton he was, of course found a way to find death boring.

In some ways it made sense, however. He had met the gods of Rivelon when they were just lords in an empire. Not even powerful lords, just simply lords by title. He had witnessed those lords become gods, and his king being banished to the void.

He had been entombed alive, punished for a crime he didn't know he committed, punished for something he had no control over.

He returned an indeterminate time later, only for creatures shaped in the image of these gods to be roaming Rivelon. An entire new and unknown world at his fingertips. He had been kept alive for an eternity by magic, his skin having shed and leaving him a mere skeleton.

You would be hard pressed to say that death was more interesting than that.

"But of course in a fit of idiocy you managed to get us transported to an unknown location," Fane looked up in the sky, "and you managed to break the moon."

Wait.

What.

"So let me get this straight," Lohse exasperated looking at Zirconas with a confused glare, "you managed to revive us from the dead. Thanks by the way. Shared the power of the divine among us, and managed to get us lost in the middle of nowhere."

"Uh, yeah," Zirconas sheepishly responded, "to be fair I don't think it is as much as the middle of nowhere as you might think."

"Then do tell, where are we?" Fane asks from beside Zirconas.

"Well, we are of course at…" he couldn't think of an excuse, "well look at the moon, that's cool right."

Lohse looked up in the sky for a second, "Congrats, well if we meet any werewolves I'll be sure to tell them the good news."

Fane scrunched his forehead as much as a skeleton could do and pulled a notebook from his belt.

He read out loud, "Werewolves… humans from stories, fabled to have the ability to transform into a wolf or wolf-like form in the presence of a full moon. You mean to tell me they exist?"

"No Fane, werewolves do not exist," Lohse exasperated, she paused for a second, "actually you know what, they do exist. And they like chewing on bones, so watch out."

Lohse was the last person to wake. It made enough sense, having been possessed by one of the most powerful demons of all time, sleep never came easily to her, so when she did sleep she slept deeply. The Red Prince had even asked at one point if it was healthy for humans to sleep as long as she did.

Still with varying time periods between everyone's awakening there was a bit of mingling about to be done. They appeared to be in some sort of clearing in the middle of a forest, the moon being the main source of illumination in the darkness of the night.

Fane, being the first person to wake, made sure that no one strained a muscle or anything, commenting that Zirconas' healing skills were way sub-par.

Ifan had been the second to wake, his time as a mercenary hardening him to sleep lightly. Followed by Beast, then The Red Prince, then Sebille, then of course Lohse.

Beast, the Red Prince, and Ifan had found it prudent to form a little circle and drink in celebration, having little else to do while they waited for everyone else to wake up. Sebille calmly walked to the treeline to scout the nearby area, and Lohse had just awoken.

And now that everyone was up to speed they could actually get things done.

"Alright everybody!" Zirconas shouted, "We're having a group talk."

Everyone glanced over for a second before making their way over, Beast packing up his flask of precious beer.

"Wait, where's Sebille," Lohse asked glancing around.

Zirconas sighed, "Can someone please go fetch her."

Fane seemed to sign before pulling out a green pyramid out of his backpack, and casting a short incantation, disappearing a second later.

Despite all they had found out, those pyramids were still a mystery to them. All they knew is that they linked to each other no matter the distance, and could be used to transport to one another. Making it common for members to grab one of the four if they were to split up.

A second later in a cyan haze both Sebille and Fane returned, both of them coming over to the group.

"All right my minions-" Zirconas started.

"Please stop calling us that," The Red Prince interjects.

"-Does anyone happen to know where we are?"

The Red Prince crosses his arms and puts on the most disappointing face only a six and a half foot tall lizard prince could muster, "I was hoping you would know," he draws his forked tongue flickering for a brief moment.

"Well you know, I was too busy reviving you from the dead, so sorry about that."

"I'll remember to thank you when I'm sitting upon my throne," The Red Prince retorts, "but for now I'd simply like to get there."

"As much as we all want to return home, it would help to know where we are," Fane comments.

"If it helps, I don't recognize these trees," Ifan comments in his brusque voice.

While that may not have meant much to other people Ifan was the most traveled of all of them, and being the careful man he was, knew just about everything in a given environment. So him saying that he didn't recognize where they were meant they were far away.

"Well, uh, did you check if these were living wood Sebille?" Zirconas asks glancing over at the elf.

While it was quite obvious they weren't in the territory of the Ancient Empire, with that existing in more arid climates, the trees looked like they could exist in elven forests.

The elf shook her head, "these trees aren't elven."

So that was a dead end.

Zirconas looked over at Beast this time, hoping the dwarf of the group would know something, "Aye, don't look at me, I don't know anything."

"Well I'm impressed," The Red Prince snorts, "you managed to find the only uninhabited place on Rivelon."

"Guys, I think we are forgetting about the moon," Lohse comments.

"What about it?" Ifan questions.

She sighs, "Nobody, not even the gods had any power over the moon. So either our friend here is more powerful than he knows, or something else happened."

"What kind of something else?" Ifan asks.

"Don't ask me," Lohse replies with her hands up in mock surrender, "I'm just simply putting out the idea."

No one dares to say anything, not sure of what they would say.

"Well," Zirconas starts awkwardly, "when you guys… uh... you know and I was by myself, the world seemed to collapse around me. When I revived you guys I passed out from the strain I think. I could've messed somewhere."

There's a pregnant pause as everybody considers that final phrase.

Fane is the first to speak, "Zirconas did use Source to revive us and Source does make up the boundary between realms. It's possible that somehow he found a new realm."

"Then how would we get back to Rivelon?" Beast asks.

"That's… a good question," Fane replies.

Everyone turns to look at Zirconas asking the obvious question.

"Don't look at me! I don't know what to do."

"Why did I place my trust in him?" The Red Prince exasperates.

"I'm asking myself the same thing," Fane nods in agreement.

"Guys! Not helping!"

"Then what'dya propose?" Beast asks.

Zirconas pauses for a second in thought, "I say we try to find civilization. We aren't getting back anytime soon if we starve to death. And who knows, maybe this is just some random location in Rivelon we haven't been to before."

"And I thought that Driftwood was boring," Fane drawls looking at the village in front of him, "and that name literally means wooden flotsam."

"Hey! At least we found a village. Or something. That means we are on the right track!" Zirconas enlightens.

"Oooh, you think that they'll have anything interesting in there?" Lohse asks, "I'm dying for some entertainment."

"I could use a meal," Ifan mutters.

"And me a beer," Beast interjects.

"And a nice warm bath for me," The Red Prince comments, "I feel like I swam through a dump."

"Guys! Focus! We'll get all of this done. We just need to figure out where we are first," Zirconas interjects, "And that means no killing!"

"I wasn't planning to," Sebille comments.

"Okay good!" Zirconas replies, "We need to get things done first before we can get to the pleasantries, so we'll split up. Red and Ifan find some supplies, take my coin purse if you need. Beast, Lohse, and Sebille find a place to stay. Fane and I will try to find out where we are. Any questions."

"Yes, when did we agree to take orders from you?" The Red Prince jokingly interjects.

Zirconas looks at him for a moment then just says, "Good so no questions!"

And so they ventured their way into the village.

It only took a couple of minutes before someone screamed at their appearance.

To be fair, that was a new record.

I know, I know, I haven't uploaded in my other story for way too long.

Well this is why. I was playing Divinity Original Sin 2. Easily my favorite game that came out out in 2017, and probably contender for one of my favorite games ever. Combating The Witcher 3, and Mass Effect Series.

After the 60 hours it had taken for one campaign I thought why the hell not, and decided to whip this up. I'm assuming here that no one really knows about Divinity Original Sin 2, so I'm going to try to explain this the best I can, since there is something like 4 stories for Divinity 2, which is a crime in and of itself.

If you have played it, and aren't finished it yet, MAJOR SPOILERS. I already spoiled a lot in this chapter, so I'm sorry.

Also technically in the game you have resurrection scrolls, I'm doing away with them for the story. More to explain the beginning and so that you don't have invincible protagonists.

If you want to know a bit more about the characters go onto youtube and search up the characters name followed by "Divinity Original Sin 2" or something like that, there is a 1-something minute long video introducing each character by the creators of the game. The names in no particular order are: Lohse, The Red Prince, Beast, Ifan, Fane, and Sebille.

This is more of a proof of concept more than anything else. I don't expect it to do to amazing because most people don't know what this is, but who knows.

Anyways I hope you like this. Because I'm sure as hell having fun writing this.

Till next time.