Extraordinary Charisma

The Lady of Silver, also known as Selûne, was one of the two oldest deities in the history of the Realms. After AO, Overgod created Realmspace and its Crystal Sphere to shut out the flammable phlogiston of the outer reaches, Selûne and her sister were born from the primordial void.

Thus, the Lady of Silver and the Lady of the Night were the two oldest deities beneath AO, Overgod. They had once shared every divine domain. The Lady of Silver represented the universe's first ray of light, while the Lady of the Night represented primordial darkness.

As the Realms gradually took shape, a third deity, the Earth Mother, was born. In the bitter cold of the void, she begged the two primordial goddesses for warmth. Only the Lady of Silver answered. She went to the Elemental Plane of Fire and brought back the Eternal Flame, using it to ignite a celestial body—the sun. Only then did the earth gain light, heat, and life.

But this enraged the Lady of the Night. Unlike her elder sister, who loved the light, she wanted eternal darkness and absolute silence. Her sister's actions had destroyed the world she had enjoyed.

The younger sister attacked the elder. That was how the eternal war, which had raged since the dawn of time, began.

As the last Sallyan of a family that had worshipped the Lady of Silver for generations, Aaron knew the story by heart. When he had heard it retold every week from the time he could barely speak until adulthood, there was no reason he would forget it.

The version he had heard, though, made no mention of AO, Overgod.

It was only the great upheaval two years ago that had taught the mortals of the Realms there was a god above the gods.

Aaron knew only a little about the Forgotten Realms, but he had read about the sisters' struggle nineteen hundred and nineteen times in web novels. There was no way he would not know about the Time of Troubles.

The Lady of Silver had been at a disadvantage from the start. Darkness was eternal, while light was fleeting, and her younger sister could always use her power to extinguish her radiance. In the end, the Lady of Silver staked everything on one move, releasing most of her essence to gravely wound her sister and claim a temporary victory. The Weave and the first Goddess of Magic were born from that act.

But it had cost the Lady of Silver far more than it had cost her enemy. She lost most of her power, while the Lady of the Night retained much of hers. As her divine power steadily waned, the Lady of Silver was even forced, for a time, to become a subordinate deity of Lady Firehair's, with only the power of a Lesser Deity, to seek her protection.

Aaron still remembered his parents arguing over that. His father had attended a huge party held by the Church of Lady Firehair and caroused for a full day and night. He came home dazed and barely able to straighten his legs. His mother had fought with him over it, and he had only managed to scrape by with the excuse that "the Lady of Silver is a subordinate deity of Lady Firehair's."

That explanation had left a deep impression on young Aaron.

After the Time of Troubles ended, the Lady of Silver regained many worshippers. She had appeared among mortals again and again during the calamity, fighting alongside them for the peace and stability of the Realms and leaving behind many glorious deeds. Moved by her contributions, people in many places began worshipping her once more. Her power recovered to that of an intermediate deity, allowing her to part amicably with Lady Firehair and stand on her own again.

After running through all this in his mind, Aaron focused on the beauty beneath the moon. She stood in a silver garden between two sacred white trees, bathed in moonlight.

Her figure was indistinct. To Aaron's eyes, she was sometimes a slender young woman with delicate features and skin fair as snow-white jade, dressed in a gauzy gown. Her long, straight white hair and blunt bangs framed a perfect face and a captivating pair of green eyes. At other times, she was a little girl with black hair and black eyes, wearing nothing but a robe as translucent as moonlight and gazing at Aaron with an expression that seemed to ask, What are you doing, big brother?

Perhaps realizing that form was inappropriate, the beauty beneath the moon finally settled into one shape. Before Aaron stood a mature woman who looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Long, moon-white hair flowed naturally down her back, while a few loose strands fell across her smooth, fair left cheek.

She wore no makeup. Her long, silvery-white lashes fluttered softly, and her clear eyes brimmed with maternal warmth. She had a small nose and tender pink lips. Standing in the garden beneath the moonlit treetops, she was as serene as a landscape painting.

A pale blue-green gown of velvet and sheer silk rose high over her miraculously full bust. A white pearl necklace circled her slender neck. Below, a romantic sky-blue gown wrapped her long, shapely legs, which gleamed in the moonlight.

Her legs were crossed, her bare feet resting on the garden floor. Her small toes shone like white jade, and her rounded ankles lifted slightly, lending her an indescribable, tranquil beauty.

She was the Lady of Silver, the deity Aaron's Sallyan family had worshipped for seven hundred years, ever since their ancestor Lyondolf. She was one of the oldest deities in the Realms.

This was the form she took as Selûne.

How could he stand before Selûne and not bow? The moment Aaron was brought into the garden, the viscount, who had come to ask a favor, dropped to his knees and lowered his head. "My Lady!"

"Your soul is resilient, Sallyan, my child. Not every soul can look upon a deity." Selûne's maternal voice soothed Aaron's weary, fading soul like clear spring water. Her words were like moonlight guiding a traveler lost in a dark forest. He relaxed despite himself, the tension in him easing considerably. "I know what happened to your parents. I'm sorry. I could do nothing for Manuel and Elizabeth at the time."

"You need not—and should not—bear the slightest responsibility for my parents, my Lady. They served their kingdom and died for it. I'm proud of them." Aaron shook his head slightly, doing his best to look like a devout believer who was strong despite his grief.

Still, the Lady of Silver had remembered his parents among countless worshippers and could even name them. That reassured him somewhat.

No one could blame her for their deaths. When his parents had fallen in battle, the Lady of Silver had been running a business in Waterdeep.

Yes, before the Time of Troubles, her chaotic nature had led her to an impulsive decision: she had relinquished most of her divine power to walk among mortals in avatar form. She opened a little bar and inn in Waterdeep, living a quiet life and experiencing what it meant to be mortal.

Her younger sister, the Lady of the Night, had seized the opportunity. Disguised as the "real Lady of Silver," she appeared before Selûne. Cut off from her divine realm during the Time of Troubles, with both her power and memories affected, Selûne was thrown into confusion at the sight of "herself." She broke down on the spot, and her sister captured and imprisoned her. Selûne had nearly been brainwashed into becoming the Lady of the Night's chosen, but a group of legendary adventurers rescued her. Once her power returned, the elder sister defeated the younger and hurled her onto a spire in Waterdeep.

That story, too, was widely told. It was considered another major victory for Selûne over the Lady of the Night, and Waterdeep became a holy site for her Church. Every year, worshippers held a grand celebration led by a high priestess of moonlight. They even staged a live play showing how Selûne had beaten the Lady of the Night with her mace, rubbing in her defeat all over again.

Aaron said nothing more. He remained kneeling in silence, awaiting the deity's decision.

The goddess seemed to be considering something as well. More than ten seconds passed before she noticed Aaron was still on his knees. A trace of gentleness entered her beautiful eyes. "Rise. I know what happened to you. That Warlock serves Cyric. Cyric ordered him to capture the Godspawn of Bane and Baal, so he could erase the influence of the Dead Three once and for all."

Cyric, just as I thought! Aaron's gaze sharpened. He rose and nodded. "Yes, my Lady. The Warlock, Mepham, told me, 'Godspawn of Baal, I'll offer you to the supreme Dark Sun.'"

"But you aren't a Godspawn of Baal." The goddess smiled softly, Aaron's reflection in her clear eyes. "Baal and Bane both foresaw that they might fall. They sent avatars into the Realms many times and fathered a great number of children."

"I can't say for certain what you are, but you are not a Godspawn of Baal. I watched your father and mother grow up, too. You are all my children."

"Yes, my Lady sees all." That was what Aaron said aloud, but his heart gave a jolt.

Had the goddess discovered something?

"I cannot bring you justice now, Sallyan." At the mention of Cyric, the goddess's fine brows drew together. "Cyric recovered the Tablets of Fate and earned Ao's approval. His power now blazes like the midday sun. He not only holds every domain of the Dead Three, but has also gained the domains of betrayal, lies, and murder. He has just killed Phantom Goddess Leira and taken the domains of illusion and deception from her."

"Cyric is even more powerful now than the ancient god of death was at his height."

"Then let divine matters stay with the gods and mortal matters with mortals, my Lady. This is between Mepham and me. I'll settle the score with him. What I ask—what I desperately need—is for you to remove the Negative Energy from my body. My Lady, this is your servant's humble plea." Aaron spoke urgently. "I'll pay any price for it. Anything at all."

"Please believe I'm sincere, my Lady. I can sign a contract. I can give everything I have."

"I can promise to build you the grandest temple in history, in the heart of the kingdom."

"I can fight for you and show the Lady of the Night's worshippers who truly rules the heavens..."

Aaron spoke faster and faster, promises pouring from his mouth in a relentless stream.

This was the crucial moment, his only chance. He could not let it slip away.

He could already feel the energy sustaining him draining as his emotions subsided. The deity's power was closing off. The power of Slaanesh, awakened by his first killing, by seeing a companion murdered for the first time, by the shock of brushing against death for the first time, was closing off.

When it closed, he would die.

He knew how powerful those four deities were. He knew his own potential. He knew what he could accomplish, what he could promise. He would pay almost any price.

He wanted to live!

Even seventh-circle Divine Magic could not solve his problem. The power of a deity was his only chance, his only hope. He understood that nothing came without a price. If he asked for something, he had to offer something in return.

If it came to that, he could pretend to change his faith and repent later.

The viscount was a drowning man now, desperate enough to pay any price.

He was about to die!!!

"Enough." Selûne raised her voice slightly. Aaron looked up in surprise. Her delicate brows were knitted tightly together, and a faint flush had risen beneath the pale skin of her neck. Her crossed, moon-white legs were held taut. A translucent wash of moonlight made the smooth skin atop her feet gleam, while her five exposed toes shone like polished jade. She stamped a foot lightly. "Come here!"

Was the goddess angry?

Uneasy, Aaron did not dare delay. He kept his head down and followed her bare feet through the moonlit garden, too nervous to notice the beautiful scenery around him.

Selûne seemed to carry a faint, milky fragrance. She said nothing along the way.

The mortal and the goddess came to a small pond. Selûne raised both hands toward the sky, guiding the moonlight into moonfire. The glowing, milky-white liquid flowed down her hands and into the pond. "Get in."

Aaron stepped into the pond at once. Its soothing water gradually covered his entire body as the moonfire spread through it.

He soon grew drowsy.

"One last question." The goddess's soft voice reached Aaron's ears. "Was it truly that Warlock's Great Old One Patron who left the Negative Energy in your body, as you said?"

Oh no!

Aaron jolted. A chill climbed through him from head to head, and his mind raced for an explanation. "I..."

"That's enough. You don't need to answer." Selûne's voice remained calm. "I believe you know the answer."

"I only want you to understand that every gift fate bestows comes with a price already marked in secret."

After a long silence, Aaron answered the goddess with a self-mocking laugh.

"It isn't a gift, my Lady."

"It's a curse... I had no choice."

"Curses and power always go hand in hand," the goddess replied. "Like light and darkness, it depends on how you use them."

A deity's power was immense. As more and more moonfire poured into the pond, Aaron's body began to change.

His young skin wrinkled and aged. Yellow spots appeared across it until it died completely.

Youth gave way to age, vitality to frailty. His neatly cut brown hair turned dry and white. In a single hour, Aaron passed from youth to maturity, from maturity to middle age, and from middle age to old age.

At last, his body failed completely.

But it was not over. New life grew inside the withered body. Cracks split its thick outer layer, like the skin of a great serpent shedding.

Aaron rose from the moonfire-covered pond. He threw his arms wide and roared despite himself.

He felt like an office worker who had finally been given three days off after a week of nonstop overtime, slept for a full day and night, and then eaten a hearty meal. The exhaustion and weakness that had dogged Aaron for so long were finally gone.

The reborn young man stood in the pond, more handsome than before.

His eyes were striking, his brows finely shaped, and his bearing exceptional. His sharply defined features were flawless. His sky-blue eyes were bright and deep, as captivating as gemstones. A charming sheen touched his thin lips, tracing an alluring line that seemed to draw others in.

Aaron's face had not changed much. He simply looked a little more at ease. Yet that subtle difference showed how little it took for his looks to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

When he turned around, even the pale-faced Selûne stared for a moment.

"Extraordinary Charisma?"

Aaron's current attributes (5e):

Strength 14, constitution 14, dexterity 14, intelligence 14, wisdom 14, charisma 22