Fields of Crimson and Gold part 1

Part 1 of "Fields of Crimson and Gold"

Ongoing fic 14 chapters up, is updated twice a week.
Read the rest here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62711359
@iruin on AO3
18+
Astarion X Durge


Prophecy 1

One night in a thousand years,
you shall watch the stars collapse in the heavens
In each other's arms and thee will be broiled to the bone.
Then you will know that Lord Bhaal has claimed what is and was long overdue.

Setting: The Epilogue Reunion

The reunion was winding down, laughter fading into tired murmurs as people retreated to their tents and bedrolls. Jaheira stepped up beside me, her presence calm but heavy. She gave a single nod. The night air felt thick, charged with all the things we hadn’t said. I hadn’t spoken of it—only Astarion knew—but somehow, Jaheira had already seen through it. A child. My child. And not just any child. Not with Bhaal’s blood, and a father who was a vampire.

She broke the silence, her voice a low murmur, measured and deliberate.

“It’s possible, you know," she began, her words lingering in the cool air. "A vampire who drinks from the divine... from a demigod especially... It makes you potent. And dangerous.”

I didn’t want to hear it, but I needed to. She had to tell me. She had to warn me.

“The child you carry,” she continued, her eyes unwavering, “isn’t just Bhaal’s heir. There’s more to your bloodline than his. You have a mother.”

I swallowed, the words landing heavy in my chest. A mother. The thought had never crossed my mind. The weight of it almost crushed me. I had no mother—had never known her. Never even wondered.

Jaheira’s voice softened, but the gravity of her words remained unshaken. “Her name was Lady Solara. She was divine. Born of Amaunator, the sun god, and Sophia, the Deva of Solania. Her wings... they shimmered with gold and amber, like the first rays of dawn. Bhaal took notice of her, as he always does. He came to her, cloaked as a moon elf named Tauran.”

Jaheira paused. There was no need for more. I could already feel what was coming.

“Bhaal sought to claim her in ways only he could,” she continued, her tone darkening. “He performed a ritual—older than time itself. He called upon the pact... Sanguis Cavea, the blood cage. Vines of crimson spread from the earth, twisting around her, silencing her cries. She was trapped, unable to escape. And then he revealed himself. Dread lord Bhaal.”

The words struck like a hammer. I could hardly breathe. Jaheira’s voice didn’t waver, but there was a weight to her words, something that felt like both empathy and forewarning.

“She was a Solar once. A being of unimaginable power. But Bhaal—he cared little for that. He saw the divine essence in her, the heart of dawn itself, and he took it. He drained her blood, stole her magic, mixed it with his own... to create his ‘Chosen.’ You.”

A chill swept down my spine. The words rang in my ears. My mother.

Jaheira’s eyes locked with mine, and I could see that same quiet strength that had always carried her through the hardest moments. “Unlike Dame Alyin, your mother wasn’t spared. Once Bhaal had drained her of everything—her blood, her essence—there was nothing left. He kept her alive just long enough to see his creation come into the world, and then... he ended it. He killed her. With his obsidian dagger.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, hearing her words echo in my mind, as though Solara herself stood here beside us, whispering her final breath.

“I may not have carried her in my womb,” Jaheira spoke softly, “but she was mine. Sunna. She was divine. Unlike any child Bhaal has ever sired. She came from the Heavens. And the sun—the sun will always burn away the darkness.”

The night seemed to freeze around us, heavy with the weight of the past. The pact. The blood. The chains that had been forged long before I was born.

Jaheira’s voice grew quieter, almost a whisper. “That pact Bhaal set in motion... It wasn’t just a ritual. It’s a bond—a chain that can never be broken. Darkness. Death. Madness. Forever bound, under a canopy of bloody stars.”

I opened my eyes and met Jaheira’s gaze. Her expression wasn’t one of judgment, but something far more difficult to face. It was compassion. The kind that carried understanding, and yet still, it burned with the sharp edge of truth.

“The child you carry,” she said softly, “is part of that pact. A link to something older, darker, than you’ve ever realized.”

Beneath the vast expanse of the night sky, the stirrings inside me grew. Not just the new life I carried, but something far older. Something much darker, entwined with forces I could never truly comprehend.