Monday, May 31, 2010

A Dragon’s Heart Pt. 10 (Afterword)

RinsGrave2

 

((This part I’ve written as straight fiction as opposed to a journal entry. I just thought a journal entry would lose the emotion I was trying to convey. As always Ruby’s hissing/lisp is intentional.))

Rublestrasza felt her heart grow heavy as she neared the usually tranquil Darnassus graveyard. In the distance she could hear the low hum of the elven city, and all around her were the happy, yet still strangely sorrowful chiming of the wisps. She had come to say goodbye to Sylerrinn… and… to make her amends to the fallen priestess of Elune.

Was Sylerrinn here now? Was she one of the wisps floating about the city? If so… perhaps Rin would hear her words and understand.

Perhaps.

Ruby halted as a new sound drifted down the path toward her… the sound of a man crying. Her heart tightened as she recognized him… it was Rhune Astherion… Sylerrinn’s husband and the man that Ruby had failed utterly.

For a brief moment she thought of turning around before she was noticed. But she knew that would not be worthy of one of the brood of Alexstrasza… Life-Binder and mother to all.

No, her role was clear… as it always was for her. Despite the shame of her failures… her role as ever was to protect and comfort.

Continuing down the path she could soon see Sylerrinn’s grave and the form of her widow kneeling beside it, finally giving in to his sorrow now that Rin’s killer had been put down like the rabid animal that he had been.

Coming to a halt beside the mage Ruby faced Sylerrinn’s grave and gave a crisp salute with her right hand. Her left hand clenched tightly down near her hips, and her lips trembled as her monocle began to mist up.

This was so  hard… her human was in pain…Rin was dead… and it was all her fault… it was too much… too much…

Ruby maintained the salute a moment more, closing her eyes, trying to force down her emotions that threatened to overpower her. Then she felt a presence… someone caring… someone forgiving… someone who gave her strength. Was it the Life-Binder? Elune? Was it the spirit of Sylerrinn herself? Ruby could not tell… but when her right hand fell once again she felt herself begin to calm. She would be strong… for Rhune’s sake.

Turning to her human she pulled his head against her chest, letting him cry into her tabard, hugging him close to her as he cried. She whispered: “I’m here Rhune… I’m here…”

Time passed, Ruby was never sure after how long, only that the sun had sunk much lower into the sky. She too cried at times, during other moments she would coo at him gently, trying to comfort them both, a strangely motherly presence for one who usually considered herself his adopted daughter.

Finally the crying slowly stopped, both of them being too emotionally drained to continue. Ruby began to push him away as she sadly and guiltily whispered to him: “I’m sso ssorry Rhune… sso ssorry…”

“No!” Rhune shouted, hugging onto her tighter. “I promised Vissic he wouldn’t break us… and he won’t. Ruby… you made mistakes… terrible mistakes…we both did…”

Rhune sighed sadly before continuing: “So often in life we try to excuse evil… blame ourselves instead… so that we feel we have some control over events. We can control our own actions and so we feel if it’s our fault… maybe it won’t happen again. Maybe we can do better next time.”

“Yes, you shouldn’t have made Vissic an ally… shouldn’t have given his darkness a chance to take root in our lives… and yes I should have killed him in the Storm Peaks… but in the end we are not responsible for Vissic’s actions.”

Ruby hugged him back and then looked up into her adoptive father’s eyes as her own began to mist up and she asked: “That’ss what thiss wass really all about… wassn’t it? I thought I could control thingss… make them the way I thought they sshould be… change you all sso I wouldn’t lose you…”

She began to cry even as she pressed on: “But I can’t… can I? Sheer willpower issn’t enough… and red sscales don’t give me the right to do sso even if I could.”

"No… you can’t Ruby. But you can gently guide… you can nurture when needed… shield them against the darkness. You can do all those things. You can set an example that shines so bright that it forces the darkness in our hearts back.” Rhune said, as he gently brushed her hair away from her tear-filled eyes.

Rhune smiled at her, sad, but proud of how she seemed to understand the lesson on her own: “I think that is the most anyone can aspire to Ruby. Vissic never understood how weak he was… he took the easiest path… the most primal… only caring for himself. It takes true strength to shine brightly Ruby… a lesson we have both been slow to learn. And because we were stubborn… the cost of learning it has been high.”

“Almost too high to bear…” Rhune trailed off.

Ruby looked to Rhune with sudden concern: “But we don’t have to let it all have been in vain… we can honor her by replacing her light with our own. We can sshine brightly for her.”

Rhune nodded. “And we will.”

Ruby hugged him close and whispered into his ear: “And we will.”

Sunday, May 30, 2010

A Dragon’s Heart Pt. 9

VissicRoars

April 19th, 29th year after the Dark Portal

Nearly a month after the fact I find it hard to write down my thoughts of that final night with Vissic in Nagrand. I made him a promise you see… that I would never think of him again after that night.

I have to break that promise this one time… for history must remember that there is a consequence for killing an Astherion. For snuffing out a light as bright as that of my wife Sylerinn Astherion. My Rin.

It all started very suddenly. After Vissic was driven from the Caverns of Time I decided to gather his enemies to press our advantage. Of course I started with Ravine. Who else? No one has wished for his death as vehemently as she has.

I tracked her down in Nagrand. There she lay hidden from the authorities of Stormwind and Dalaran that still searched for her, and she was hidden from Vissic who desired her death as much as she yearned for his.

I flew over Nagrand on the back of a young red drake named Nialstrasz, one of Ruby’s friends from Wyrmrest Temple. As I approached the village of Telaar I could see below us the violet proto-drake that was Vissic’s signature… and on it’s back was the warlock himself… he had found Ravine first!

Vissic is nothing if not resourceful. I have to give him that.

The great proto-drake snapped at Ravine with it’s massive jaws… roaring it’s challenge. She stood alone, staff raised, fighting for her life and for the vengeance she had long sought… and for the peace that had long eluded her.

She would not end as a meal for the drake however. That is not Vissic’s style. Oh no. To kill her could never be enough. Nothing less than stealing her soul and making it his personal toy would satisfy him.

Vissic always DID have issues.

The warlock leapt from the back of the proto-drake and confronted Ravine himself. Fel fire flashed, sword clashed against staff, and I could hear Vissic’s gloating even from my great height.

Ravine was hard pressed and driven back. Vissic smirked as only he can and seemed certain her soulstone would soon be clutched in his hands. Death was mere breaths away for her… her soul’s eternal torment at Vissic’s hands mere heartbeats away.

I admit it was not Ravine I saw as I urged Nialstrasz downward. I saw only my Rin… as I had seen her last… worried that I would get myself in over my head as I tried to save poor Ruby from Vissic’s dark “help”.

My rage was not heated… it was cold. Unlike Vissic I felt no need to kill the one I hated myself. Just the fact of Vissic’s death would be enough for me. And I had no doubt that would be the result of that night’s battle. The only question in my mind was if he would take me with him and leave my children parentless.

And so Nialstrasz and I dove down upon Vissic, the red drake’s talons outstretched, the dragon sharing my mood and shrieking it’s own anger at such a vile villain.

Vissic’s attack on Ravine was halted as the warlock dived desperately out of the way of our strafing attack. Nialstrasz’s claws missed him by mere inches and we landed in front of the warlock.

But we were not the only one’s looking for Ravine that night. Even as Vissic tried to regain his feet Scheen suddenly appeared out of the shadows… an annoying habit of hers now used to deadly effect. Strapped to her back was a tank hooked to a nozzle she carried in her hands. Scheen decided to ignore the usual banter and get straight to business. Simply saying: “I’ve been waiting for this…” she fired the contraption at Vissic unleashing something… I don’t know what it is… I am no engineer… only that it was HORRIBLE… Vissic knew it too and hurriedly dodged out of the way and redirecting the firestorm he was about to cast at me on Scheen instead.

We of course took advantage of this distraction.

I urged Nialstrasz upward and we soared past Vissic, and landed so as to block any possible escape. Meanwhile Vissic summoned a Fel Guard which was intercepted by Scheen, though she was forced to abandon her infernal contraption and rely on her rogue talents instead.

Nialstrasz took a deep breath and then exhaled a great gust of fire at the warlock causing even Ravine and Scheen to scramble for cover. Vissic was quick to react, hoping to take advantage of the dragon fire, he threw a small gnomish explosive device at us…

A loud boom echoed across the night, and a searing heat hit me. Nialstrasz screamed as he took the brunt of the blast and with a screech the drake collapsed and began his death throes, throwing me from his back. As I lay dazed looking up at the Nagrand night I could hear his slowly dwindling whimpers as death took him. For a moment I imagined it were Ruby instead and I thanked the fates that she was not a grown drake, for if she were, she would have surely been dying in his stead.

Still I lay there dazed, but eventually I could make out Ravine’s voice: “You’ve taken….

VissicKneels

and taken…”

Slowly getting back to my feet I surveyed the scene. Both Nialstrasz and Vissic’s Fel Guard Thootom were killed in the explosion, while Vissic seemed to have been badly wounded in the blast as well.

I felt determination fill me and I half gasped, half growled: “Last… life… you… take… Vissic.”

Vissic struggled to get back up on his knees having  been hurled to the ground in the explosion. His only response was: “And none of you have anyone to blame but yourselves.  You're all just as guilty as I am for their deaths."

Time seemed to slow down then as Ravine slowly approached the fallen Vissic, her hands dripping with wisps of shadow. Resting her staff on Vissic’s pauldron she simply said: Mayhaps, but now… now their souls will finally know peace.”

Seeing death mere moments away Vissic did what he was best at, trying to prick us with one more barb, saying we would remember him forever. That he would haunt us, a reminder of all our failures.

That is when I made him the promise. That I would never think of him again… instead I would only remember the love Sylerrinn and I had shared. A promise I intend to keep after this night….

And then so suddenly it was impossible to take in Ravine struck the final blow, her soul fire ending Vissic’s life, putting an end to his darkness forever.

As his body collapsed I felt a sense of peace come over me. As if now that Rin could rest peacefully… so too could I. Though I still had one last duty…

I turned Vissic’s body to ash right there and then. With warlocks you cannot be too careful after all. His nutrients will feed the grasses of Nagrand… and one day he will become clefthoof dung.

A fitting end I thought.

 

 A fitting end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, May 27, 2010

My New Geek Hub…

Check out my new computer workstation/desk! It’s the Ikea Fredrik and I loves it very much! The desktop and both shelves can be set at different levels to customize it just the way you like. For mine I set the middle shelf down low to put both my screens at just the right height while keeping everything looking clean and organized.

In addition to the adjustable heights I got the accessories kit which gives you lot’s of little doodads to customize things even more. On the right side facing in you can see two cloth holders: the top one holds my cell phone and the bottom one has pens/pencils. On the right side facing outward there’s a place to  hang my headset and a large cloth waistbasket that I use to just hold random stuff. Clipped to the top shelf are paper holders, useful for things I need to remember for IRL as well as gaming.

The wooden keepsake boxes I also found at Ikea. The only two packages they had left. I thought they were sorta neat and matched the desk really well.

And of course I had to add some of my own personality in there… so the dragon-head bookshelves I got for Christmas finally found a place to loom, as well as a glassware dragon, and a wizard and a dwarf made from the ash of Mount St. Helens that I’ve had since a child.

And a wizard magnet stuck to the inside there… because I’m just that much of a geek.

Finally there’s a piece of plexi-glass cut to fit that protects the desktop from drinks and stuff. Can’t be too careful!

All in all I couldn’t be happier with it!

GEDC0153

And for those noticing my small collection of games doesn’t include World of Warcraft… err… I may have a shelf elsewhere dedicated to World of Warcraft merchandise. Maybe.

Hush! I never said I wasn’t a geek!

 

Design By:
SkinCorner