Whispers in the Dark

June 26th, in the 28th year after the Dark Portal was opened Ebon Hold, Eastern Plaguelands

A scream of unbearable sorrow echoed throughout the lower levels of Ebon Hold. Sir Roam Loreth, Knight of the Ebon Blade, could not stop himself from flinching. No matter how many times he heard her scream he always flinched. He would ALWAYS flinch he knew. For though he was dead he was not without emotion and none with any soul could help but feel the anguish of the person before him now. Not even an Ebon Blade. ESPECIALLY an Ebon Blade... for who else could better understand her pain?

Once again Dame Faylian Lanstryde screamed. He knew she could go days standing there in absolute silence. Then abruptly and without any apparent cause she would scream like she was now. He'd timed her once and her record was two hours straight without pause. It still made him shudder to remember.

Then just like that she was silent.

The sudden silence was almost as unnerving as the scream itself had been. Her eyes were open, she seemed to stare right through him as if he were not there, and she took no notice of the room around her at all. She appeared to him to be trapped in a world all her own.

She had been a powerful weapon in the Highlord's arsenal once. She had kept a tight reign on the Revenants of Lordaeron, a temporary unit of Ebon Blades, until the living could trust them enough to integrate Death Knights into the Alliance's elite: The Retribution of Arathor. She had identified the person who was the most outspoken against such integration; a man named Rhune Astherion, and had manipulated events to eliminate him as a threat.

Rumors spoke of an alliance between her and Malygos the Spellweaver and the kidnapping of Rhune's wife who was nearly broken as a result. Some said that she had used this event to create mistrust between Rhune and the Retribution. Others stated that she had stolen an artifact of great power from Rhune's Violet Eye allies and that she had betrayed Malygos after he was no longer useful and had destroyed his servants in the Sapphire Circle.

Only the Highlord knew for sure.

With the successful completion of her primary objective Faylian was thought to be a rising star in the Knighthood until something unexpected happened: the Scourge had destroyed her mentor and close friend, an Ebon Blade by the name of Alanus. Rumors were rife about that as well: that the two had been far more than teacher and pupil. Whatever the truth of the matter Faylian had been found just as she was now at a mailbox in Stormwind and holding the very letter that informed her of Alanus' death.

And so she had remained for the last four and a half months. Until now.

"She is to be taken to New Avalon at once. There a potential new ally will prove himself by making this weapon useful again and gain a uniquely qualified liaison with the Knighthood in so doing. Or he will fail and prove that he is useless," Roam said as he gestured and four ghouls stepped forward and surrounded Faylian.

"It is time that you once again suffered well Dame Lanstryde."

Picking up the shattered pieces

Just when you give up on someone they can surprise you.

I don't know what that will mean in the future except things are no longer bitter and cold, we are at least civil with one another, and there is at least an honoring of what was once between us... long, long, ago.

I can't say anything was fixed. I can't say we're the best of friends again. I can't even say I'm comfortable around her. I do know it will never be the same again and the page has turned on that chapter.

But maybe there's still something for us in the next chapter. I really don't know yet, but if not we're still better off than we were.

The winners are in: Blizz writing contest

The winners are in for the Blizzard Creative Writing Contest… and I am not among them. *sniffles*

Alright I didn’t REALLY expect to win given the HUGE amount of entries. Not only were World of Warcraft fans submitting stories but Diablo and Starcraft fans as well. So many stories were submitted that they were forced to delay the announcement of the winners by several weeks.

But that’s alright. The real point was just to write a complete story from beginning to end and do it on a deadline. Which I did and am very proud of that fact. Something I intend to continue to do. That it turned out to be what I thought was a very fun and whimsical adventure is yet another bonus.

Expect to see the story posted here soonish.

You can see the winners here: Blizzard Creative Writing Contest.

White Flag

Shattered Friendship Redux:

We failed.

Simple as that really. Despite all our efforts and the aid of close friends we who were once best friends and inseperable are now strangers in every way that matters.

She tells me we have "no connection anymore"and if she truly feels that way then I envy her. I wish I could just shrug my shoulders and disconnect like that. I really do. It's just not something I can do easily. I imagine that is why I get close to so few people because it's a very dangerous place for me to put myself.

I am still not sure why I did so with her. Other than we were both lonely, needed someone, and we could feel that in the other one. We also both had a similar life situation and that created a comfort zone and understanding.

She tells me I like to play the "noble friend" and she "isn't dependent on me anymore." She says it like I'm her father or older brother and she needs to escape me to "grow up". Except I wasn't playing the noble friend at all... I needed her as much as she needed me. In a year when my grandmother and the cat I adored both died, and my brother who I was close to was away in Canada our time together was very important in my staying sane.

Long, long ago that must have been where things started to go wrong. When in her efforts to stop leaning on me I suddenly found myself with my own support gone and stumbled around in an effort to stay upright. What was a bid for independence and strength by one of us was a hurtful and unexplained distancing for the other. The natural reaction was of course repaying that distance in equal measure which seemed just as unexplained to the one who'd started the process. And it built... and built... a thousand disagreements... all of them petty and small. None of them mattering at all. But the emotions behind them did.

And here we are. Things have been said that cannot be unsaid. Any sense of being comfortable with her is gone and... I really don't think it can return this time. It was just too easy for her to give up. And then she took what she must have thought was her most hurtful arrow in her quiver and used it on me. It didn't work as well as she thought... but she used it. She thought it would hurt and dig deep and she used it... and the attempt is all that matters.

She was right. It did hurt. Not the words but what she wanted them to accomplish.

There was a time when the intensity of our fights was strangely reassuring, because at least it meant we deeply cared for the other. But now all of that has burned away from us and there isn't anything but a calm coldness.

That's how I know we're done. That's how this is different than every other time.

And yet I'll miss her anyway. I'll miss never being alone. I'll miss logging on early and staying up to the very last moment and often times far beyond just to be with her. I'll miss the long intimate talks. I'll miss the humorous moments, the sense of closeness and comfort, the sense that someone cared who wasn't forced to because of shared blood.

I'll even miss her pessimism because I am far too optimistic than I should be and enjoy wearing my rose colored glasses far, far too much.

It was a good two years and I can't say I regret them. I hope when the opportunity to be so close with someone comes again I'll still be willing to do so. I don't know if it will because I somehow went through my entire life without having done so before. But I'm different than I was when I met her for better and worse.

Anything is possible and a new page turns... another chapter starts.