Drow's Dilemma Ep. 144: Warned

"Perhaps I do," came a gentle reply. The Lampad's touch had gone from non-sexual, to sexual, back to gently comforting. Now the voice was more and more obviously that of the Goddess, and not Schistea's. "I wanted to reward you, Tsabdrin. Reward you for what you did for my little brother. Your love fell in love with my brother and left you. I wanted to help you get over her. But, I was wrong."

The Lampad let go of him, floating away and getting larger as she did. "I had hoped that your immense age and experience of many centuries could temper the young ones' youthful exuberance of fewer than two decades: that with time you and them could grow to understand each other. But they are too young, and you are too stubborn and content to wallow in your past. It is my fault. Perhaps the Goddess of Beauty actually is a silly, capricious deity. You escaped from my sister's web, only to fall into my embrace. And while She hurt you with cruelty, I hurt you with kindness."

Aelsuna's voice through Schistea's body became loud and hard, ringing out across the cavern. "Tsabdrin of Duskhaven, it is clear you are not ready for my gifts. You neither want them nor can receive them. Your trauma is too deep, and you are too unwilling to give it up. What is freely given is too often not valued. But what is given by the gods can be taken away by the gods. My daughters will trouble you no longer. Your unborn daughter will go with them. You are not yet ready to be a father again."

Tsabdrin grew ashen with shock, but anything he could have said was interrupted. The earth around him shuddered, stones falling from the roof of the cavern. Schistea began to shrink, and the darkness began to eat away at her. The young Lampad looked down on Tsabrin, her expression soft with sincere pity. Tears flowed freely down her face as her skin and hair reversed. She looked more like Ashyr than ever. "I am sorry I could not help you, Tsabdrin," the Lampad said in her own voice. Her body began to dissipate into the darkness, floating away from his reach. "I will cry those tears you cannot, in the darkness not even your eyes can see through. Know that no matter what happens, there is one person who understands your grief, and will weep for you." Most of her body had been eaten away, but a beautifully contented smile appeared on her face behind the tears. "There is just something so beautiful about a tragedy, is there not?"

And she was gone. The cavern shook. He felt a shock of fear from Tooth and Nail on the surface.

Tsabdrin scrambled to his feet and began to dash out of the cavern, tearing through the winding tunnels at reckless speed. He had a daughter. His first daughter. And she was being taken from him. They were all being taken from him. Them, and probably his beautiful home and all the projects he poured his heart into. He didn't want them gone! He just wanted them to give him more space! He needed to do something to save everything! Why did this keep happening to him? Why did the goddesses want to torture him so badly?

As he got higher into the caves, he began calling for the oreads. If anyone could stop earthquakes, they could.

Unless they were causing them...