Sielic races down the path, gazing up at the sun in the sky. He sighs, again, remembering how late he was. The wind had died down and the land was eerily quiet. Sielic sighed again, keeping up his frantic pace. Denaryn was going to shoot him for this one. They were supposed to meet almost an hour ago. Sielic shook his head.
Denaryn remained seated inside the inn, where he should have met Sielic an hour ago. He sighed, taking a drink of the wine he had ordered and had refilled countless times in the past hour. He wondered what could be keeping Sielic. Sielic was almost never late for their meetings, however infrequent they were growing. Denaryn ordered another refill on his wine and looked outside. Sharlen, a wolf Denaryn had befriended long ago, sat outside, tail wagging softly as he watched Denaryn.
Sielic looked around, curious, as the animals around him scattered. The bears, the cats, the rabbits, even the wildkin were antsy and running. They hid in their caves, beneath the trees, and some just ran. Pausing, Sielic watched them disappear into the distance and wondered on this. Something had them spooked. He shook his head and continued running up the path. Soon, he'd be able to see the edge of the town.
Denaryn looked at Sharlen, tilting his head. Sharlen just started to cower down, curling up. He quickly scurried over under Denaryn's chair, howling up at him. The innkeeper looked at him, telling him that he had to take his wolf back outside. Denaryn stepped outside, trying to comfort Sharlen. He looked around and noticed that many of the animals around him were panicking and trying to run off. 'Strange,' he thought. 'I wonder what has them spooked.'
Denaryn looked up as flocks of birds suddenly took to the skies and that was when he noticed a red glare in the sky. He blinked, then followed the glare. Something flared brightly in the distance. Denaryn could do nothing but gasp.
Sielic looked up, the birds flocking by. He noticed the darkening of the sky and felt a strange sensation pass through his spine. 'What is this? Fear? Of…what?' Sielic thought for a moment before he noticed the flare of a blazing fire in the distance. Sielic quickly dove down the hill, rolling to the base as something immense flew overhead. The flames filled the sky, smoke and fire everywhere. It took some time before things had settled down and Sielic attempted to climb the hill again, gazing out towards the town. He dropped to his knees at the top of the hill, partly due to his confusion at what had happened, but largely caused by what he saw now. Destruction.
Denaryn was caught in the destruction of Auberdine. The shockwave passed over the buildings, ripping them down and splintering them where they stood. The fires of his passing swept forward, burning what remained to ash and cinders. Only charred remains of anything stood inside the town any longer. The people, buffeted by the shockwave, were tossed into building frames, bones breaking on impact. People flung far into the wilderness if they did not impact on anything. Denaryn and Sharlen were not spared death. Sharlen collided hard with a support beam, snapping almost in half on impact. Denaryn would have mourned, but had no chance. The shockwave threw him across the town, but he only broke his leg on impact with a building's frame. He was very much alive when the fires swept across him, boiling his blood and burning away his flesh into ash. Nothing remained of Denaryn but a few bones after the destruction.
Sielic, along with many other people, would look into the devastation of Auberdine. They would try to find loved ones, friends, comrades, anybody. Very few people in the city could have survived though, if any. All gathered there knew this was true, but they looked anyway. Sielic searched for as long as possible and then gazed across the water. He did not know what this meant for the world, for himself. He just knew that he had lost a friend this day. He began to make his journey across Kalimdor, to return to Stormwind and to see what other destruction had been wrought.
–
I have not had much time to put pen to paper and write out my thoughts as of late. Many events have occurred over the last couple weeks. Most importantly, the Legion held an execution of a cultist. I was there, though my thoughts on the matter are a little more complex than approval or disapproval. The execution was disrupted, predictably, by the angry crowd of citizens there. Many people are opposed to the Legion as a whole due to its tendency to respond to threats to the Alliance with a quick albeit brutal response. I wonder how far away the day is when the Alliance considers the Legion to be the threat that needs stopped, and who would be the arbiters of that justice?
However, despite the stay of execution by the hands of the Legion, Alysdair promptly placed two bullets into the head of the cultist and the crowds actions were for naught. Chaos ensued, of course. The crowd was not pleased by this, and an uproar of commotion occured which was used as cover for someone to take a shot at the lord, and reactions were slow. Accusations were thrown and then something quite surprising happened. Alysdair's body faded into the shadows as an explosion occurred, obviously in the pursuit of self-preservation, but this bomb threw Baron Monroe, and a few other Legionnaires away from the execution platform. Not having any practice in healing, I let others tend to them and merely stood away from the crowds, watching them and wondering who had shot Lord Blackdawn.
A flash of light caught my attention in my peripheral vision, however I barely had a chance to turn when a sharp pain shot up my left arm, knocking me off my own feet and dropping me to the ground. I realized afterwards that my turning was the only thing that had preserved my life. I kept perfectly still, unsure of why I was fired at and managed to speak into the Legion communicator I had. I warned them of sniper fire, and called for the Baron to be removed. They didn't listen, or maybe they hadn't heard me, I still do not know. Once the second shot rang out, I sprang up, holding my arm, and darted for cover. I yelled out about the sniper fire, warning everyone to cover and people began scattering, running away, teleporting, vanishing, whatever they could do to survive.
I managed to slink away to the Cathedral, and recovered there for some time. A little later that day, in the Mage District, there was an attack on the Legion, by the cultists. A mechanized elf exploded, scattering the few of our members who were around. Janderius was closest, but managed to encase himself in ice right before the bomb. I dived to cover a woman I had just been introduced to by Shame, a new friend. The explosion did not help my arm, and the shock apparently caused enough problems within my body to temporarily blind me. Time was spent in Darnassus, afterwards, and then I snuck back into the city, refusing to hide in the Legion's Fort Talon for even one night. My vision has returned by then.
The night was then spent with many drinks and a few drinking partners and the next day, I again woke up on a boat with no memory of how I had acquired access to it for the second time in a week. I, also, woke up next to a very beautiful woman, just like last time, except I did not stick around for her to wake up this time. The night before was a complete blank and I do not know what I may have promised that woman, but I am sure I was a complete… gentleman. Well, these days are full of activity and amusement for me.
Time to investigate.
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