Chapter One
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"People have always looked up to the Heavens for salvation ever since the beginning of time,"
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"Alleria! Look at me!"
"No Alleria, look at me!"
The golden-haired ranger only smiled as she watched her two sisters running around the central park of Windrunner village. She adored the two more than she had anyone else and she fervently hoped that she would not be called by duty today, so that she can spend time with them. Being a Ranger was a full time schedule after all and it has always been duty first before family. It didn't help that her extremely tight schedule had become even more strict with the Orcs ravaging Alliance lands making her job thrice as hard and that means spending more time on the field and away from the family that she adored.
"Leria, would you mind taking us to the field today?" asked Sylvanas; springing out of nowhere in front of her, her cat-like blue eyes peering cutely at her older sister.
Alleria just sighed knowing that she had already lost once her sister pouted. Sylvanas may be close to coming of age, but her younger sister still acts like a child most of the time. Alleria knew she would had a hard time kicking suitors off when the time comes that her sisters come in age. They are too beautiful for their own good. Being daughters of the Windrunner House, all three of them have been graced with blonde and golden hair of course, and the fact that they are beautiful is certainly off the question. The only difference was the color of their eyes. Sylvanas had baby-blue eyes while Vereesa who was the youngest of the three Windrunner sisters have green while Alleria had plain black.
In fact Alleria who is honest enough to herself, knew that she is the most plain of the three of them despite being the oldest. She knows that she looks more like her father and would never be considered a beauty like her sisters who were the mirror images of their mother having all the right curves and right skin color. Alleria despite still being a beauty in human standards however is simply plain bland on High Elven ones. However the female Ranger had finally gotten over it, she did not became a Ranger by letting her emotions get the better of her. Besides, if her sisters would become the target of lovesick males, Alleria would be more than happy to use them as extra moving target practice.
"You know that father would disapprove of this once he knows that you are visiting the practice yard again with me," Alleria rose an eyebrow at two adorable looking eyes who immediately pouted at her next words. "Besides, don't you have your sewing to look back to?"
"Sewing is boring!" wailed Vereesa waving her small fists up and down looking terribly disgusted. It took all of Alleria's control not to hug her like a stuff toy with how cute she looked at the moment. Despite being a decade and a half old, Vereesa still looked like a small elfling. "I want to be a Ranger like big sister! Not sewing clothes like a human princess,"
"Me too!" interjected Sylvanas. "Big sister had trained me with the bow. I will become the best ranger general in History! I promise!"
Alleria only smiled at their words, she knew deep inside that the two would not be simply sitting at house doing housework. Like her, there is a fire deep inside them that moved them further than anyone else. Already Alleria could see the potential inside Sylvanas despite her still young nature. Provided by the harsh training that the Rangers can only offer, her sister could rise among the ranks easily. She had natural talent unlike her and Vereesa. With the right attitude and dedication, she would be a great asset on the Rangers. As for Vereesa, Alleria can only hope and smile at her younger sister. Though not as passioned as her and Sylvanas on the outdoors, Vereesa is already a good shot despite her young age and she would pass the Ranger qualifying tests once she's grown a little taller and bigger.
"Fine," sighed Alleria in mock defeat. "But if father knows about it, you two would be the one answering his angry retorts, not me,"
"Yay!" the two cheered like school girls and before Alleira knew it, she found herself being dragged to the familiar pathways of the woods by the two miscreants who were too loud for their own good.
Alleria just let it be though. Only once can an Elf experience childhood and she was determined to let her two sisters get the full measure of it. With their long lives, most Elves don't remember their early years and Alleria plan to change that by letting golden memories fill that of Sylvanas and Vereesa.
Making sure that the two wouldn't trip as they happily jogged familiar paths that they had memorized after countless times of visiting the field, Alleria let her thoughts wander as they passed the borders of Windrunner village.
Despite the peaceful aura that Quel'Thalas had at the moment, same cannot be said at the borders. The Horde at the moment is invading everywhere and despite the wall of trees and heavy enchantments that the Elves had laced their home with, the Horde still managed to ransack and raid several of the villages that lived near at the borders. That was the reason why the Rangers were so busy. The current Warchief of the Horde, Orgrin Doomhammer was no fool and instead of launching a full all-out attack against Quel'Thalas, the Warchief had been sending large amounts of raiders at the forest borders causing havoc everywhere and making the Rangers life hell as they try to root out the raider groups that pop out everywhere. Of course it didn't help that many of them end up lacking sleep and, despite the High Elve's fortitude thanks to Ranger training. There is only so much you can push yourself to before totally collapsing.
"Do not give up hope," and there it is again. Alleria sighed to herself, gotten used to the fact on hearing that voice. Ever since she had become a Ranger recruit when she was young, Alleria had been hearing that voice; whispering, teaching, guiding. In fact if not for that voice, Alleria was sure she would never have passed her written exam to be a Ranger. It only got worse when her cousin Lirath died.
"Do not give in to anger and vengeance. It clouds your mind and acts like a poisonous wound that will continue to fester hurting you as much as the one you wanted vengeance to," it whispered to her mind.
The High Elven Ranger just clutched her bow tighter making sure that her focus remained on her two sisters and not at answering the voice. She had learned the hard way that talking to the air was a very good way for you to be sent to the healers. When the voice at her early days on training started to disturb her, she had tried talking to it...out loud. Unfortunately, other trainees had seen her and reported it to their senior officer who then recommended that Alleria visit their resident Healer for "evaluation". She never talked to the voice again out loud, though it could obviously read her thoughts by the amused sound it made sometimes when she thought of a funny thing.
"Your sisters are calling for you. You've just arrived at your destination Leria,"
And there goes her pet name. The High Elf certainly didn't know when he started calling her that,only that he did. Although made as an endearment, the High Elf can't help but scowl at it. It really sounded child-like and unbefitting for a Ranger of her caliber. Though she sometimes felt special that her invisible talker made an effort on naming her an endearment.
"You're you really should stop staring into space. Your two adorable sisters are already starting to get worried,"
Alleria only blinked at the words. "Staring into space?" What did Mr. Invisible mean?
"Alleria! Alleria! Hellooooo! Alleria!" Sylvanas' voice whined like a kicked puppy, cutting through Alleria's thoughts making the Ranger blink as she looked at her sisters who had folded their arms, glaring at her while pouting cutely.
"What's wrong?" asked Alleria looking at them.
"What's wrong is that you've been staring into empty space again Big sister," giggled Sylvanas. "Don't tell me that you're thinking about a boy again?"
Alleria only glared at her as she and Vereesa giggled with one another. Goddess only knows would any male Sin'dorei find her attractive. The sun would had a better chance going blue than her, finding someone who will like her.
"I do,"
The elven ranger promptly ignored the voice as she instead walked to the empty yard littered with practice bows and spare arrows. She can't help but frown a little. She never saw the yard emptied before. Sure there had been times that few were on it, but never empty. There would always be trainees present either just lounging and resting after gruelling training with their supervisors or simply there to test their mettle with one another. Seeing the yard so empty felt wrong and eerily silent.
"At least we can have all the space we want," muttered Alleria to herself. Her two sisters however did not either care that the air felt so malevontly thick or acknowledge the uneasiness that their older sister had as they ran to the nearest weapon rack grabbing a practice bow and several arrows before heading to the nearest range.
Behind them, Alleria just walked silently trailing after them. Already a bad feeling was churning in her gut, warning her of something that she can't place her finger into. The ever present voice that she had come to trust on situations like these was eerily absent and that worried her more than any amount of silence can do.
"Sister, look at me go!" Alleria tried not to jump up in surprise as Sylvanas' cheerful voice disturb the atmosphere. It was followed by the sound of an arrow being knocked on bow and the familiar tension sound of the string.
A small thud came from the target followed by the sound of Sylvanas cheering and Vereesa's clapping. Alleria however did not pay any attention to her as her black eyes scanned the trees. She right now really wanted to get out of here but feeling that moving away right now from where they are would be a very bad idea. She fervently wished again that the voice that had annoyed her thousands of times would be here to advise her.
"Sister! Look at the target! I hit it dead center," Sylvanas' hand clutched hers pulling it repeatedly to get her attention.
"Not now Sylvanas," snapped Alleria, her eyes squinting as for a moment it seemed, she saw something shift in the woods that clashed horribly with the color of the trees before disappearing again.
"But Alleria, look I hit it dead center," whined her sister.
The Elven Ranger completely ignored her sister at the moment as her hand went instinctively to her quiver at the back to grab an arrow. She was pretty sure she saw something and she would eat her bow if it was anything but hostile. She could feel eyes and killer intent radiating in front of her though she could not see them.
"Sister!" a sharp pain at her scalp drew Alleria's gaze away from the woods she were gazing as she moved by instinct to glare at the offender that had grabbed her hair to come face to face with the completely annoyed look of Sylvanas.
"What?!" snapped Alleria to her younger sister forgetting for a second about the odd dangerous feeling.
"You're not looking at the-SISTER!" Sylvanas suddenly cried in alarm and so did Vereesa who immediately hugged her legs as they looked at whatever it is behind her that she pulled her eyes away from.
Years of training immediately kicked in to Alleria, her hand going instinctively to grab an arrow at her quiver, knocking it easily on her bow and releasing it at the first moving target that she saw moving. There was a pained yelp, followed by a growl. Alleria's eyes only widened though she then registered her assailants only a few feet away from her and her two sisters.
Orcs, five of them riding on wolves at top speed towards her, a sixth one groaning on the dirt with an arrow at the shoulder. A full raiding party.
"Run!" shouted Alleria pushing her sisters to the side to avoid being trampled as one of the wolf riders barreled to where they were only a moment ago. As it was, Alleria can't help the yelp of pain that left her lips as the wolf's claws snagged her right arm, leaving deep gouges on it.
Gritting her teeth, Alleria did her best to bear the pain, ignoring the frantic cries of her sisters' as they were surrounded by wolf riders at all sides. Dropping her bow, Alleria drew her dirk with her left arm, her bloodied hand that was dripping blood pulling her sisters to her as the Orcs dismounted from their wolves carrying their axes and hammers surrounding her while muttering on their own crude language in victory, some even palming one another.
Alleria can't help but wonder how in the world did Orc raiders get so close to the capital. No wonder the yard was vacant. Either the Rangers here were dead or driven off. Probably the former rather than the latter. Orcs do take prisoners, but very seldom.
"Stay back!" hissed Alleria holding the sharp dirk she had protectively in front of her. The dirk was a good secondary weapon for any Ranger, however compared to the massive bulks of the Orcs, it looked incredibly small like a pinprick. The Orcs obviously thought the same as her for all it took was one look at the small weapon before they guffawed and roared in laughter.
That of course ticked Alleria off.
Completely ignoring her sisters' call for her to stop. Alleria lunged, moving like a snake towards the nearest Orc she could reach. He obviously didn't expect her sudden attack, for he barely had time to raise his hand on his chest as the sharp dirk that was supposed to pierce her heart, instead passed through his open palm making him howl in pain trying to get it off. Alleria only grunted, pushing the sharpened metal further, with every intention on trying to pierce his chest and his heart. She never saw the backhand that came from her right and hit her straight in the face.
Coppery blood immediately filled Alleria's mouth as she felt herself flying in the air before crashing hard on the ground knocking the wind completely off her lungs. She could hear from the distance, her sisters crying for her. That bolstered the Elven Ranger's resolve as she tried to stand up from where she was lying. However something big and hard crashed unto her bare navel and Alleria can't stop the scream of pain that left her lips as she felt the abuse on her navel again and again, her ribs cracking loudly as the three Orcs that surrounded her kept on stomping her lithe body while laughing on their own language.
Eyes blurry with tears of pain and defeat, Alleria forced her head to move at the side to see only her sisters bound and gagged, placed on the back of one of the wolves crying.
"No," croaked Alleria, blood pooling on her mouth from her pierced lung feeling completely helpless watching her sisters get captured. They would be subject to a life of torture and slavery, and Alleria would be helpless to stop it. Not to mention that she would probably killed right now.
She tried and failed to protest as she felt one of her legs being moved to the side. For a moment she panicked, thinking that they would rape her with the way her legs were spread. However she never saw the rising hammer and with a sickening crunch, landed on her upper part of her leg. This time, all sort of resolve immediately left Alleria's being as an agonized howl left her lips as bones break and flesh give way under that single heavy blow. She was barely finished from her first scream before a repeat of the strike came again, this time at her lower leg making Alleria scream again to the air as bone broke and flesh rent. Again and again the blows repeated on her leg, and the Ranger just now wished to die as one of the Orcs forced her look at her leg. Alleria can only sob, it barely looked the same, some of the bones were jutting out of the skin and the flesh was all but rent, oozing blood in great amounts, showing red muscle below.
The one who had struck her loomed over her and this time though, the hammer was poised on her bare navel. Alleria tried to squirm but the other Orcs grabbed her down and Alleria can't do anything but cry as she heard the blurry voice of her sisters' calling her name as the hammer descended on her navel. Like the breaking of her legs, it was followed by a sickening crack and Alleria can only gasp from where she was tied down feeling the bones on her body dislocate from the impact, piercing her organs.
This time Alleria can endure no longer and she found herself drifting into oblivion, the last thing she saw were the Orc raising the huge hammer to bring it down again.
"You're not alone Leria. Remember family is more important than any sort of vengeance,"
The High Elven Ranger barely recognized the voice as sudden screams of pain and fear came from the Orcs before she fully blacked out.
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Hello, so this is my story. I would not be updating this much, for I would be focused on Newcomers. But I just wanna try the thoughts juggling in my mind. That's why I wrote this tra-la. Opinions are fine. I wanna hear it.