| abstract
| - ((This originally occurred in the Winters End forums between 27Aug2007 and 05Sep2007 and the original thread is located here. It was primarily co-written between Shingetsu and Zahress.)) The sun shone clear through the cerulean sky of Westfall, blanketing the land in a warm, rosy glow. The ocean sparkled like sapphires and diamonds, and the warm wind caressed Laynne as she lie there, basking in the dreams of the wonderful ball the night before. Then her back hurt, rather suddenly, and a voice demanded, "Up, Torrind." Though groggy, her eyes opened enough to catch sight of a familiar yet strange visage looming above her. Recognizing her brother, she let her eyes slip shut again and muttered a demand for a few moments more. And then it was there again, a sharp strike, cold metal against her back. "On your feet. I have no time to waste on your weariness. There's blood to be spilled." Grumpy from her poor waking, the sorceress took a few moments to shake off her dreams and focus on her surroundings. When she could clearly see again, what she saw made rather little sense. The man looked like someone she knew...but also very much different. The once dusky hue of skin now seemed stained a darker tone, and eyes that once gleamed with passion now flashed with anger. "...Zahress?" Hands wrapped in cold iron tightened around her shoulder, dragging her up to her feet ruthlessly before releasing her to stagger and settle herself. But whatever response was waiting to be issued would have to wait, as a third member of Winter's End made her way across the shore. "Ardulfryn? What are you doing?" Leaving Laynne to finish waking, Zahress' eyes cut to Maitana upon her inquiry. No bow was issued, no welcome offered. Only hard words. "I am back from my trip, and we have work to be done, witch. The criminals are not going to butcher themselves." Laynne latched onto the words, anchoring herself in the waking world as she gathered her thoughts back around her. "Brother! Do not call her that!" "...dare you question me, Torrind? I am the Chosen One." The words were cold as a devil's heart, sharp as a lover's tears. The figure of strength once trusted dear rose to loom over Laynne, muscles rippling and tensing, seeming disproportionately large. But Laynne had faced all manner of demon before...and dealing with her impetuous brother was not something she was about to shirk away from. "You will apologize to Maitana, Zahress," Laynne said defiantly, staring the Kal'dorei down. Behind her, Maitana mumbled about why she would have been called a witch, said it was no trouble, calming, simple tones...but not enough to defuse the rising conflict. "I apologize to no one. I am the Chosen One. Will you stake your life on your demand, girl?" As soon as the words were out of Zahress' lips, Laynne nodded and opened her mouth to insist she would, but instead had to hurl herself aside from a wild jab that cut through the air beside her, iron-clad knuckles burning across her cheeks. After the evasion, however, only confusion registered. What was done by instinct refused to meet up with reason. "Z...Zahress?" "I have no time for your childish feelings. We have work to do. People to slaughter. Come along." Maitana stood by, aghast and drowning in a sense of helplessness as two of those she cherished began to fight. She did not want her family to fight...but she could not think of any words that could ease the situation, only listen as the argument dragged on, pulled by Laynne's reply of, "I would have gladly stood beside you if you had asked, but I will not help you if you no longer care for your own family!" Zahress loomed in close, snarling, drawing in to glare down at Laynne again...and then smashed his skull into hers, sending her reeling with the shock of the vicious strike. Even stunned, her presence of mind was enough to draw a blade and summon up a wall of flame, instinct driven by long conflict to protect herself. But no defense would suffice against the words that were coming. "Traitor. You refuse to hunt those who have done injustice? You have broken your oath. You have turned on Winter's End. Turned on me, the Chosen One. Maitana - execute the betrayer." Execute. Execute. "Do you really mean to kill your own sister?!" Laynne shouted through the flames at Zahress, then readied herself as the man who now seemed more a monster walked through them without a second thought. Blistering heat folded swept across him, throwing back the thick tangle of hair bound behind him...but not seeming to touch him at all. In reply to the words, Zahress' hands shot out, a brutal lunge that closed one mailed fist around her blade and drove the other into her face. As Maitana watched in horror, Zahress stepped into the assault, wild jabs and hooks connecting into Laynne's face, shoulders, chest, and stomach. Despite the weapon in her hands and the beating she was facing, Laynne only attempted to evade, escape, unable to bring herself to attack...but Zahress was merciless. He paused only twice...the first, as Laynne looked up at him, pleading, to say, "The Zahress I know...would never hurt his family..." It stopped him. For a moment. And then he screamed, wild and angry, veins pumping with a rush of blood and turning a dark green tone...and the beating commenced again. The second pause was when he picked her up and threw her into the wreckage of an old lighthouse nearby, timbers splintering under the force of the throw. As the dust cleared, a faint shimmering glow was visible through the cloud, and then faded away - Laynne's instincts saving her once again, a faint shield that saved her body from being crushed. But as she crawled from the wreckage, Zahress was already walking away. "I have no more time to waste on cowards and weaklings," he growled, "There are too many in need of justice for me to waste time on love and sentiment. Come, Maitana." Maitana hovered for a moment, then shook her head and knelt to wrap her wounded sister in a loving embrace. "Why...why, Ardulfryn?" Even the sun seemed dimmer in the sky as their brother withdrew from them. Archdruid Fandral Staghelm sat in the highest office of the highest tower in the capital city of Darnassus; a city created from his own order. A city, he knew, that would disapprove of his leadership if the truth of it became public. The moonlight shifted through the window illuminating a shadow along the wall. He looked up from his desk for a moment and then dismissed his attendants. As soon as the last of his servants had left the chamber he spoke. "What is it? I am a very busy man." The figure emerged from the shadows finally, stepping into the moonlight. He didn't seemed garbed for an assassination but the Archmage remained on his guard. He didn't get to his position by being sloppy. "Warder?" Silvery-blue eyes cut into him at the word and he nodded in understanding. "I see. Well if you have fallen from Elune's grace I cannot see what use you can be to me. Please, be on your way." He turned his head back down to the desk, already dismissing the former Warder from his mind. "You misunderstand my intentions Staghelm. I am not interested in your servicing any longer." He had moved to lean against the wall opposite his desk, but Fandral would not be made to look up at the other if he persisted in a conversation so he stood. Amber eyes met with silvery blue on the same level. "Then speak your mind and be done with it. I have much to do." "That much I do not doubt, but I am here to find out what it is you have done rather than what you will do. I speak of the boy Zahress. I beleive you're familiar with him?" The Archdruid's amber eyes narrowed. "Do you mean to threaten me with such nonsense." "Not at all. For men such as you and I, who have carried death upon our shoulders and dealt it freely, we have no use for threats. However, it occurs to me that Durgaraf was a Warder for quite some time, and he had quite a number of missions from yourself... If the peoples were to find out about some of those missions well... I don't think it would go well for you." Glares cut at one another from across the room until the Archdruid submitted. "It was a trivial matter. I had no use for the fool until recently. You may have turned your back on this city but it is my strength that will be it salvation. I had devised a ritual to remove the corruption that infects Teldrassil and place it within a Kaldorei. Zahress simply seemed the best vessel for such." "Rather, you mean the most convienent." "Be that as it may, I was not present for the ritual itself. Since the druids who performed it were killed however I assume that the ritual did not work quite as intended." "Did you know what it would do to him?" "Should I have? What is one youth to the whole of our nation? I bear him no more malice or compassion than you would bear a tool. He is simply a means to an end. In truth, I had assumed he would be strong enough to contain the corruption within him. It would appear I was mistaken but it is no matter." "Was." "Hm?" "He 'was' your tool. This will be the last time I will deal with the clean-up of your reckless actions Staghelm. Winter's End looks after its own, and we will see to Zahress. When we are done though you are not to have any contact with him. If you continue to use him, be sure to kill me first, or you will regret it." And then the figure was gone, simple as that; melded through the shadows. The Archdruid sat back down finally and frowned for a few minutes before returning to his labors. After all, what use had he for a tool once it was spent. The scent was faded now and he had to pull it from the foliage of the area, but it was still strong enough for Shingetsu to know that Zahress had been this way. The Archdruid had told him, after a fashion, what had happened, but the investigator in him wanted to inspect the scene of the ritual all the same. Even if Staghelm's words were truth it was quite possible, likely even, that the Archdruid did not invest enough attention to the subject to know the details. And details could be utterly important. There was no mistaking the scene when he came upon it. A circle of trees surrounded a clearing and at it's center four identical tendrils rose from the forest floor to point at the center point of the clearing. What made it unmistakable was the blood. The coppery scent would have dulled with time, but it was no more than a few days old. Images of similar scenes came unbidden through his mind, massacres laid before Durgaraf's feet, and he quickly shut them out. The bodies had been cleared away but there may still be clues left behind. The dull glint of metal caught his eye in the center of the clearing. Approaching the spot he crouched down and brushed the leaves aside to reveal a splintered piece of metal. He picked it up and examined it closely. A piece of Zahress's spaulder, but bent and rent from the rest of the armor. It was small enough that it had probably escaped the notice of the attendants who had cleared the corpses from the field. Sharp silver eyes swept the area searching for any other clues. He sniffed the air carefully... Zahress's scent was still there, amidst the lingering other scents, but he could barely discern it. And there was another scent focused on this spot... still sharp and clear like an edge in the dark. Like sulfur's smoke. A lingering trace of fel energies. That would seem to confirm what the Archdruid had told him, but where had Zahress gone from here. A sudden clamor from above caused him to lift his gaze from the ground... and find an Ancient looking down at him. The Ancient's voice was a creaking boom within the midst of the woods. "You hunt for the demon?" "I seek him, yes, Ancient One. Do you know any of what occured here?" "I came here upon my way and found a demon standing over dead druids here. He had defiled the forest and threatened with greater profanity." "Could you tell me what happened to him?" He called up to the living tree. "I grasped him and flung him from this place. I know not where he handed, but it was a mighty toss. I have not seen him again upon Teldrassil. I believe he has left." Shingetsu rose from his crouch and gave the Ancient a formal bow. "You have my thanks for your kindness and protection, Ancient One. I wish you peace and good soil." "Good journeys Hunter of Demons." With that the Ancient turned and sauntered away through the trees. It took Shingetsu much of the rest of the day to find where Zahress had "left" Teldrassil. Even so, it was mostly by chance as he found the tattered remains of Zahress's ceremonial robe waving in the wind. It was caught on a branch several yards below the lip of the tree. Moving with great care Shingetsu was able to climb down to retrieve the fabric. Not unexpectedly it smelled heavily of the youth, and also of the Fel taint. He cast his glance down below. Far below him the seas waters clashed against the roots of the tree; far, far, far below him... He folded the robe and placed it within his pack and began the arduous descent. By the time Shingetsu completed his climb down Teldrassil's trunk the moon was high in the sky and the sun long set. His body ached from the effort of physically climbing down the enormous tree, but he ignored the pain. There was a small patch of ground nestled between the massive roots and held together against the beating sea only by tightly entrenched grasses. In the midst of those grasses however was a pit, as if something had struck the ground with tremendous force. The Fel scent was even stronger here and disturbingly, Zahress's was weaker. The grass, undisturbed in its isolated position, still showed clear tracks towards the sea... The structure loomed ominously above him. Unbelievable mystical power swirled within it creating a shimmering sparkling doorway. He'd heard it called the Gate to Hell, on more than one occasion. It was more commonly known as the Dark Portal. He had seen into the corners of this world and knew of remote places that few others had ever visited, but he had never had cause to venture into this new world. He stood beside Ishnu, on the barren plain of the Blasted Lands, watching the magics shift within the Portal. Everyone else in Winter's End would be trying to find some way to restore Zahress and there there was little he could do, having no real ability with such things. Perhaps he could find something in this new world. He should at least try. And so resigned he swung into Ishnu's saddle and cantered into Outlands... Shingetsu assumed that this was the land known as Hellfire Peninsula. It was parched and broken, crags and ravines mutilating the landscape and dry red dust rose from where Ishnu's hooves touched the ground. And it stank. Not just the simple arrid smell of dry dust, but the land reeked of Fel. It climbed through his nostrils and entrenched there till their was barely any scent of anything else. Even his mount was faint in the overwhelming stench of brimstone. The two were slowly passing along a deep ravine to their right, moving towards where it was hoped they might come to the swampy area of the world. He had come here seeking to find some way to help Zahress. Perhaps in a land broken by Fel there would be a force capable of safely drawing it from a living entity. Perhaps not. He had covered Kalimdor and Azeroth in his footsteps however and of the forces he could conceive as able to do as he would ask, none would speak to him as he was now. He mused that to try those avenues would simply have meant his death, and likely Zahress's as well. With the others seeking their own ways to alleviative his affliction then perhaps there would be a way... His train of thought was interrupted as his instinct suddenly ignited with him. Without thought he dove to the ground and turned to see his mount suddenly impaled on a horrid iron sword, the momentum of which carried the animal screaming into the ravine. "Ishnu!" In the blink of an eye the horse was gone and nothing left to speak of it's existence but for the spray of blood on the ground and the screams echoing in Shingetsu's ears. "Hmph. I missed." Cold silver eyes swiveled to the figure standing beside a rocky outcrop some yards away. At first he thought it another demon, the land was certainly full of them, but as it stepped forward out of the shadows he saw the violet hair and youthful features. The skin had turned hard and red and he was much taller now, on eye level with Shingetsu, but this was Zahress. The violet hair hung unbound and writhed freely about him. A demonic fire burned where once golden eyes had glowed and his ceremonial robe had been replaced with hard, savage armor, but it was Zahress. The Wanderer rose from where he was crouched on the ground, all mirth gone from him. "Are you done with beating on women who will not fight back then?" Zahress sneered and nearly spat out his reply. "They are less than worthless. Fools who would stand aside while there is work to be done. I shall purge them with my strength soon enough though." His smile was grim. The two watched each other for a few moments, utterly still as a light breeze stirred the dust on the ground. Finally Shingetsu spoke. "What a shame. Even I had hoped for more from one who would dare address themselves as a 'Champion'. Well, I suppose there's nothing for it... If it's strength you need to see..." His left foot slid back and his hands came up to guard his torso "then we will see who's strength purges who." Zahress smirked for an instant before charging forward. His speed was nearly blinding and in that initial rush Shingetsu had a hard time following his movements. When the demon's fist collided into his stomach with enough force to lift him from the ground he was flung to the ground where he rolled to stop a couple yards away. Shingetsu grunted as he got back to his feet. "Is this your strength? The great Warder? Are you still thinking you're better than me Durgaraf? You should know better than to fight the Chosen One." Zahress swung again, seeking to knock the other kaldorei back into the dust. Instead his fist struck nothing but air and a blow to his ribs in the same instant made his torso buckle. "You were never a Chosen of anything Zahress, except besides for childish gullibility. Even at his worst, Durgaraf was ever better than what your gullibility and weakness has led you to become." Zahress's eyes burned as Shingetsu prodded his pride. The Wanderer had stepped back a distance but kept his guard facing the demon Zahress. "A Champion of Elune would never have become what you are now. You were just a youth, deceived by politics with no rightful claim to a title which defined you. Durgaraf, a Warder, -that- is a Champion of Elune. And that takes more resolve than you have ever known." Zahress's next swing was blocked by Shingetsu's forearm but a quick jab found its spot on the Wanderer's chest just as Shingetsu's foot found itself colliding with Zahress's jowl and both combatants were sent stumbling back. "I am the rightful Chosen One!" Zahress howled "Who are you to say differe..." Shingetsu wasn't waiting for Zahress to finish however. He slipped around Zahress's guard in a blur of agility and struck out with both feet, slamming into the small of the demon's back before rolling away with his response. "Me? I'm just a Wanderer. But I've lived, two lives in sense. Durgaraf fought in battles that would make your blood crawl from your face and he left ruins that would roil any stomach. -I- am but a shadow of that Champion in the end I suppose, but I am still enough to give some sense to a child who must find his identi..." This time it was Shingetsu who was interrupted as Zahress succeeded in breaking through his defense and smashing him into the ground. Shingetsu started to pick himself back up when Zahress's fel iron boot smashed into him, sending him sprawling and causing blood to gush from his mouth. Zahress looked at the struggling form as it started once again to rise. He sneered at it. "It doesn't matter what you say. You'll be dead in a few minutes. I expected more of a fight from a Warder though." Shingetsu retched as he managed to push himself to his knees. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand he looked across the field at his opponent. He was beaten and bloody but his eyes still shined clear. "Durgaraf is gone. The darkness that hardened him shattered..." By now he had managed to get to his feet. "Durgaraf would have killed you by now. I know because that is what this body yearns to do... what it tells me to do. But I am not Durgaraf, and I won't kill." "Then you will die." Zahress's armor shielded him from the brunt of Shingetsu's blows but his skin had split where his naked head had been struck. He was still strong enough to close the distance between the two in a flash however and as his gauntlet flew forward with all the force he could place behind it he suddenly found himself flying through the air. Shingetsu had used his own momentum to throw the demon without hardly being seen. "Someday, Zahress, I'm sure. It may even be you who does it. You had the potential to have that sort of strength, but it won't be today." Zahress landed in a cloud of red dust. The world was still again for a few moments as the dust settled and then Zahress began to chuckle. "You prattle as if you are stronger than me, but it is clear that I have the power here!" He was on his feet again and flexing muscles bursting with demonic strength. "The one with the power wins. The one with the power is the Champion! You are just a dust mote to me." "Are you going to talk all day? A champion doesn't need power. A champion needs resolve. Where's your resolve Zahress? Did you sell it for this?! Is this all that you are?! You should be better than this! A champion would never have gone as far low as you have now gone! Show me your resolve!" Zahress smirked as Shin shouted at him. "There is no need for resolve with this power." He closed the distance again, stopping his charge just outside of Shingetsu's reach. Shingetsu spun from his fist... straight into a rib-shattering kick that sent the Wanderer rolling through the dust again. This time it took him longer to get to his knees and an arm clutched at his broken torso. "If words will... not persuade you... I can't... permit you to... harm the others..." Shingetsu's eyes cut through the air like razors. "This Wolf will teach you reason." There was no transition of motion. One second the Wanderer was barely able to crouch on his knees and the next he was slamming full-body into Zahress. The force of his momentum carried them both from the ground... and into the open air above the ravine. As they plummeted through the air Shin curled his arms in front of his face, holding Zahress under him. "If you survive, remember resolve and become a true Champion and not this mockery." Demon eyes burned at the silver razors a few inches away. "If not... then I will see you in the Nether." In the end, there was darkness. Words floated through the darkness, taunting him as he walked. Just enough to draw his attention before disappearing like the illusions of desert heat. Family. Resolve. Ardulfryn. Mercy. And every time he paused to hear the words. Every time a pause, and then a regret. He didn't recall how long he had been walking, but every time he paused, there was the terrible sense that he was suddenly much farther away from where he was going. And so after the moment's pause, he started to walk again. His legs did not tire, for there was no surface for them to impact. His lungs did not strain, for there was no air for him to breathe. Sometimes he wondered if he had died and simply not noticed, and this was the path to the afterlife. Humans spoke of the 'tunnel of light' rather often. He felt quite like he was in a tunnel, most of the time...but he had not imagined the tunnel to the afterlife would be so terribly long. And he had always expected Elune to show up. Ah, but there it was, there was finally a point of light, far ahead of him, in the darkness. He quickened his pace towards it...but it did not move. He ran ahead, and it slid sideways. He turned, and it fell. And as it was falling, there was a sound, clear and true, not swallowed up in darkness at all. But not words... A howl. It was terrifying to him, but strangely comforting as well. Inspiring, even as it sent a shiver down his spine. And then the light surged forward, trailing sparks of silver and blue. As it grew closer, the darkness receded, fleeing from the approaching beast. And yet...there was no real fear, no tension. Certainly, the oncoming wolf was ferocious. Lean, ancient, powerful. And then Zahress knew why he was not afraid of the wolf. It wasn't coming for him. The world spun around him in a sudden flurry as the wolf lunged past, flashing teeth tearing away the black tendrils that had woven around him; tendrils black as pitch and invisible in the darkness before the light arrived. Zahress staggered, gasping as he took in the monster that loomed over him, under him, entirely surrounding him, save for a single hole through which the wolf had torn its path. All around it was wet, pulsing, thick fleshy ropes of green and black twisted into a bizzare chamber. Deep vermilion nodules drank in the light, stealing long streamers from the surroundings and threatening the darkness again. Dark veils concealed two vast screens, through which Zahress could vaguely see a great chasm or red earth, dark at first but with a light streaming in from above. A scent of blood and cloying stone seeped into the room through a pair of tubes in the ground. And sealed into the walls and floor were strange objects...a painting of Mount Hyjal. A weathered tree. A small ring. The face of his father. Memories. His own memories. If he could have vomited, it would have been his first reaction. The wolf leapt at one of the light-drinking nodes and savaged it brutally. As it did, the wall opened and a man stepped out to gaze down at the bewildered Kal'dorei. He was a strangely familiar man...tall, young, with flowing violet hair and eyes flashing with intensity. Zahress sneered as Zahress fell back, gathering his bearings. Zahress dashed towards the wolf, and the two fell to the ground, struggling. As Zahress stood, he watched Zahress slam the great glowing wolf to the ground and slam down on it with his heel, then kick the wounded animal across the room. "Go back to sleep, boy, and leave the world to those with power." It was decidedly strange, Zahress-who-was-worried decided, to hear your own voice insulting you. He tried to recall how it was he got to this place, facing himself in this monstrous chamber, with a wolf-spirit as his only ally. As he did, there was a churning on the walls, memories slipping loose - the great tree, Teldrassil. A circle of druids. A ritual being prepared, and - A blinding flash of green light issued from one of the nodes remaining in the room, and the room dimmed, hiding in shadows that which he had been looking for. "This does not belong to you anymore. You belong to it." Zahress frowned as he looked over at the Zahress-who-was-angry. "You must not know me as well as you think, Zahress. I have fought demons before. I have been trapped by magic before. You will not control my will. I am the Chosen -" "NO! I am Zahress! I am the Chosen - " "A Champion of Elune would never have become what you are now. You were just a youth, deceived by politics with no rightful claim to a title which defined you. Durgaraf, a Warder, -that- is a Champion of Elune. And that takes more resolve than you have ever known." The voice came from the edge of the room as the wolf struggled to rise from where it had been fallen. Behind it, the tendril-walls of the room parted, revealing a bizzare scene - Shingetsu, bloodied and beaten, curling away from a serious of vicious jabs and kicks. It followed as Shingetsu grabbed forward, then a wrenching spin and a fall. And then it all came together. The strange screens showing the bottom of a ravine. The scent of blood. He hadn't been summoned to some other place at all. Those were his eyes, being used by someone - something - else. With an furious roar no-longer-worried-Zahress charged towards the monster that looked like him. A series of perfectly blocked jabs were followed by flawlessly evaded kicks as the demon flowed around all attacks. "Hah...I am you. I know what you think. I control what you think. You cannot touch me, boy...your friend may be a dead fool, but he was still right. You are only a child." A vicious spinning backhand sent Zahress hurtling back through the air, sliding across the floor of his own mindscape in a heap. "You cannot beat me, Zahress. I am everything that you are and more. I am ancient, I am powerful, and I have made what you are mine. You will fare no better against me than any others of Winter's End have. I will wrap you in my coils again, and then I will settle matters with the rest of your brothers and sisters." As the monster rushed towards him again, Zahress started to block, then began to dodge...but always anticipated, always predicted. He found himself pinned against the wall, arms wrenched painfully behind him. He hadn't stood a chance...he was beaten completely. Another voice, calling from the darkness, the voice of his brother, "Are you going to talk all day? A champion doesn't need power. A champion needs resolve. Where's your resolve Zahress? Did you sell it for this?! Is this all that you are?! You should be better than this! A champion would never have gone as far low as you have now gone! Show me your resolve!" But he didn't have any left. Zahress struggled as the shadows curled around him, lashing out as best he could. He twisted, he bit, he slammed up against the wall...but nothing. No matter what he tried...he had nothing that his enemy did not know. Nothing that his enemy did not have. "That's right, Zahress...close your eyes and sleep. Leave your family to me."
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* ""The Zahress I know...would never hurt his family..." The darkness paused, nearly closed around him. "Ardulfryn? What are you doing?" He grit his teeth against the darkness, struggling once more to not fail those important to him. "Sometimes you just have to accept that you can't do everything...the harder you fight, the faster you lose. Sometimes you have to believe in life, in love, and admit that you're the one that's weak. That's how I convinced your mother to marry me. And that's why I have to follow her." The voice of his father cut into him, deep into where he tried the hardest to forget...but it was the pain that kept him awake. "Where's your resolve Zahress? Did you sell it for this?! Is this all that you are?! You should be better than this! A champion would never have gone as far low as you have now gone! Show me your resolve!""
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* Zahress' eyes opened again, glaring up at the monster whose hand was around his throat, choking his consciousness back down. "All you have...is all of my power." The monster appeared confused for a moment. It had heard many pleas. Many demands. But not...defiant assent. "...yes. All of your power. And you are mine." Its voice was more uncertain, wondering what manner of game was about. It had been through this host. It had tasted the memories and dreams of the creature it was within. But this was...unusual. "Then you cannot possibly...possibly beat me." The rebuttal from the demon was cut off in a sudden flash of bluesilver, a blur filling the space the creature once stood in. The demon was knocked to the ground, the battered wolf once again wrestling with the strange invader. "How...dare you? Everything I am? You are nothing that I am! All you have is my power, nothing more!" Zahress stepped towards the monster as it once again cast the wolf aside and squared off with him as he continued his tirade, "But it is not my power that has ever saved me...and it will not do you any better." As the monster drew a wickedly barbed spear from his back to begin the battle anew, Zahress drew his own defense - a book. A simple leather bound volume. He caressed the cover with his hand as the demon charged forward, then held the tome up as though it would protect him from the savage thrust. It didn't, really. The book was sundered apart, pages scattering across the room. On each page was a picture, a captured image of Darnassus. Zahress fell to the ground again under the power of his opponent's assault. But as each page touched the ground, the vile coils hissed and recoiled. After a moment a young sorceress stepped out from them, fixing her hair in a messy bun. Korena smiled gently at Zahress, then at Zahress, then released a torrent of flame through the room. The demon laughed at first, then screamed and burned as the magic entirely failed to wash over him ineffectually, as was his original anticipation. With flesh aflame, the monster charged towards Korena - into thin air, as the lady magician reappeared elsewhere in the room. "You might be warded against the powers of the ether, but this is not magic. This is memory. I am a memory. And in his mind...he believes his friends are stronger than you are." The spear hurled through the air was snapped in twain as it flew through the air, crushed in the jaws of the great wolf that had been so recently dispatched. Now, though, the wolf stood strong and ready, guarding Korena, and the dark-skinned priestess who had emerged to join her. Laynne stepped out to hug Korena and Elentariah, then stuck her tongue out at Zahress where he lay on the floor. "You need to quit being so lazy. There's work to be done." The demon spun away from the gathering host, dashing away from the army assembling for him in a bid to get back to Zahress, finish him, make him stop remembering. But the Draenei standing in the way did not seem to be willing to have any of that. "You will not harm Adulfryn."
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* Zahress groaned and grasped his head as he rose, then peeled off his crumpled metal gauntlets and looked around the ravine they had fallen in. Shingetsu lay unconscious and bloody on the ground next to him, but still breathing slowly and steadily. After a moment he laughed, then stood up and heaved Shingetsu's body over his shoulder. "You just had to drop us in a pit, didn't you, brother?"
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)