#ITSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS HERE YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL

[thedragonagelesbian]

h-llowed

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Rating: T

Pairing: KarlachXM!Tav

Summary: The Shadowlands will do anything it can to blot out every last scrap of hope and light within its domain. When its darkness comes for him, Cyrus is left to face a terrifying question: what is a paladin without his oath?

“Hey soldier.”

Cyrus’ hands stilled. 

It was a beautiful shield: a bulwark of gleaming silver and delicate gold filigree that had once called to him. Before even seeing it for the first time, he had heard it humming in his heart as he had crossed the bridge to the Last Light Inn. With every step and thrum of his pulse, it had grown louder until, in the quartermaster’s tent, he had fallen to his knees in front of it. Hands reverent, metal singing, a holy consonance reverberating through him as he traced its engraving— the emblem of his oath.

But the symbol was fading now, faint at the edge where the paint was thinnest and Cyrus had rubbed in too much polish. 

He had done little else since returning to camp. He didn’t even know how long he had been there, hunched between tenuous firelight and creeping twilight. No armor, no sword, no companions.

Just the damned shield, quiet as the grave.

And, now, Karlach.

The tiefling woman crouched beside him in a low, restless squat. As she bounced from foot to foot, the shadows danced too, shifting with the shimmer of her flame-licked skin. Receding. And for the first time, Cyrus realized how cold he was. There was only so much the pixie’s bell could do for him, after all. The darkness wasn’t just out there anymore, kept at bay by torchlight and Selûne’s blessing. Its tendrils had hooked inside of him, twisted icicles of inky nothingness staked through his heart, and the emptiness was as heavy as it was frigid. A void howling with the weight of loss.

Cyrus had shouldered countless burdens in his century of life. He would bear this one too. He would endure it. The song would come back, if only he just proved his devotion.

He resumed his task, shrinking away from Karlach’s warmth and keeping his head low. “Should you still be calling me that?”

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