> [!infobox|right] > #### Chapter Two > ![[LORE - DIO STORY 02.png]] > > ##### Basic Information > | | | > |---|---| > |![[ICON - bookmark-etch-solid-full.svg]] **Type**: | Cursed Existence | > > #### Dates > | | | > |---|---| > |![[ICON - play-solid-full.svg]] **Began**: | 1486 DR | > |![[ICON - chess-rook-piece-sharp-solid-full.svg]] **Location**: | [[Cathedral of Lathander]],<br>[[Eveningstar]] | > |![[ICON - stop-solid-full.svg]] **Ended**: | 1489 DR | > |![[ICON - chess-rook-piece-sharp-solid-full.svg]] **Location**: | [[Storm Horn Mountains]],<br>[[Cormyr]] | > |![[ICON - timeline-arrow-solid-full.svg]] **Span**: | 3 Years | ### Gravity <a href="https://dioctionary.net/THE+DIOCTIONARY/TTRPG/D%26D/STORIES/TYRANNY+25'/LORE/DIO+LORE/BESHABA's+CURSE/03+-+The+Apple" class="dioctionary-ribbon-2"> 03 </a> <a href="https://dioctionary.net/THE+DIOCTIONARY/TTRPG/D%26D/STORIES/TYRANNY+25'/LORE/DIO+LORE/BESHABA's+CURSE/01+-+The+Alleyway" class="dioctionary-ribbon-3"> 01 </a> His second life began on the cold stone floor where his first had truly ended. Lightning tore through the shattered rose-glass windows as [[Dio Eldwynair]] jerked upright, gasping, fingers clawing at his throat like a man dragged back from drowning. His lungs burned and his vision swam, and for one fractured moment nothing made sense, only that something was deeply, irreparably wrong. Then the world settled into place; the [[Cathedral of Lathander]], the broken altar, the storm hammering the walls, and Olivia’s blood, dried beside him. He turned, wild, expecting to see her body, to hear [[Kaelen Droswynn]]’s fury, to find [[Lira Morningvale]] reaching for him with trembling hands, but there was nothing. The cathedral stood empty, the battle long over, hours passed, and Dio had not stayed dead... Footsteps broke the silence as Kaelen, Lira, and the clerics of [[Lathander]] rushed in, their faces shifting from confusion to shock to something far less forgiving. They dropped beside him, voices overlapping with questions he could barely process, asking what happened, if he had been unconscious, if he remembered anything at all. He told them everything, the blindness, Olivia’s death, the fall into darkness, the alley in [[Suzail]], the blade in his ribs, the moment he died, and the moment he came back. The more he spoke, the quieter they became, not understanding, not belief, but doubt settling in like a weight. Kaelen’s jaw tightened, Lira’s expression faltered between fear and desperate hope, and the clerics whispered to one another about trauma, shock, and a mind breaking under strain. No one said it outright, but it hung there all the same; people do not die and return, not like that, not without consequence. That was when Dio learned the first truth of his new existence, that he would return to this place carrying a death that only he remembered. That morning, unable to bear the weight of their disbelief, he gathered his gear and left without ceremony, walking alone into the hills beyond [[Eveningstar]] with no destination and no guidance. If the truth would not be given to him, then he would carve it out himself, no matter what it took or what it cost him in the process. Guilt drove him first, then anger, then something colder that refused to let go. He hunted, following the trail of a band of traveling [[Doommaster]]s east of Cormyr into the cliffs where whispers spoke of the [[Hollow Cloister]], convinced that if this "curse" had a source he would find it there, and if it had meaning he would force it into the light. Years passed in the mountains, each step forward feeling like progress and yet never bringing him closer to an answer, only deeper into the weight of it. Then came the storm, violent and without mercy, turning the ground beneath him slick and treacherous as his torch flickered against glimpses of black talismans just ahead. The ledge gave way without warning, and there was no scream, no time to react, only the scrape of steel against stone as he reached for something that wasn’t there. The fall was long enough for understanding to settle in, and short enough that it made no difference, and then darkness took him again. Breath tore back into his lungs as he awoke once more on cold stone, storm light cutting through broken glass, Olivia’s blood still beside him as if no time had passed at all. Back in the cathedral, back at the beginning, and this time the understanding came all at once, complete and undeniable. **He could not die with purpose.** Every end would be stripped of meaning, every answer taken from him at the moment it mattered most, every attempt to reach something final undone before it could take hold. So he made a vow, not out of hope, but out of defiance. If he must be reborn in this sacred place, then he would spend every life searching for meaning, for truth, for some way to slip the grip of [[Beshaba]]. Or, if nothing else, he would push forward until he found an ending she could not take from him...