A World of Warcraft Story.
Disclaimer: Warcraft and World of Warcraft both belong to Blizzard and I make no profit off this story.
Flyguy Ichman
By Mage-Alia
Summary: Wing Commander Ichman has been a part of the Dragonmaw Orcs, Skywing Command for years. The undefeated third seat for as long as he could remember. But its all about to change when he meets a new challenger.
Oneshot, No Pairings.
He'd been a prisoner of the Frostwolves throughout the war, kept caged like an animal and forced to listen to the orcs planing his demise. But when he escaped, home no longer felt like home, so he ran, travelling to outlands to make a new life only to find his way into the arms of the Dragonmaw Orcs...
All he had left was a griffin and that was enough to earn him a place in their ranks and even a little respect as he vied for the top spot as a flyer of the Skywing Command, but his way of life wasn't going to last.
A newcomer, a Dragonmaw Orc that quickly climbed the ranks of their outpost on the Netherwing shelf, would bring it to a crashing halt. The orc wasn't anywhere near attractive by any means. Two tusks protruded from his bottom lip eyes flashed red on a hard and lined face. It was young, but there was an age in it's eyes that made him do a double take before he realised it was just another orc.
One of the kind who where generically bred for labour, and of which very few ever made anything of themselves.
It'd been the first new grunt to arrive in a while, clad in dirty robes most likely looted from a fallen adventurer and it had immediately been put to work before its talent for harvesting the pollen from the plants on the shelf was realised. It earned it a place helping the shamans but that did not excuse it from the labour of the mines. It weathered the monsters and crept to and fro, finding loads of ore and crystals that had long since been abandoned.
It became an overseer.... then a captain.... then finally it stood before him as a challenger.
"We race now." It grunted, it's voice androgynous, even for an orc.
The three other flyers it had defeated before him all slinked away, almost shamed by a no named upstarts victory. Ichman rolled his eyes and mounted his griffin companion, securing his bombs to the saddle.
"How about we do this the old fashioned way. I'll be the Alliance, you can be the frostwolf Village! BOMBS AWAY!"
He took off and the Orc took off after him. For a moment, as he simply flew, he looked back and out of the corner he could swear that he could see another Griffin following behind him before the Nether drake of the newcomer filled the sky around it and Ichman took that as his cue, loosing a volley of flares all the while performing twirls and twists that would dizzy even the most experienced riders.
But the Orc stayed right on his tail.
Ichman knew then that this particular orc was very different. It couldn't have been an orc at all with the sudden intelligence that shone in its eyes as it raced him around the shelf and then he realised that it was true when he drifted a little too far away from the island.
The magics maintaining the illusion of the Dragon and the orc flickered and for an instant a woman was visible. Blonde hair streaming behind her in a small nimble griffin she twirled through the sky, radiating power before it was all repressed back behind the illusion of the orc and Ichman almost felt as though he'd been cheated of something as he turned back to land on the runway back at the compound. He'd lost her with a high speed manoeuvre a while back and when she finally gave up and returned to the runway, she didn't behave out of the usual... like anything out of the ordinary had happened. The woman turned Orc waited as he shook his head, and away she went without a word of protest at having not passed.
For her, nothing had changed.
But it had changed, because Ichman found all of a sudden that he didn't want to be alone anymore.
After that fateful day, he found himself watching the woman turned orc. She wove around the encampment with surprising ease, having gained enough prestige not to be bothered by the goings on of the camp. She took her orders from the commanders easily and often vanished for days at a time but she always reappeared eventually.
The Goblin Mercenaries that had made a place for themselves in the encampment got along with her as well. She seemed to regard them as something more that the others around them and was often seen in their company when the camp became rowdy or the peons decided to rebel in large numbers. Ichman noticed also that she didn't sleep with the other orcs either, with the fortitude of a seasoned adventurer she remained awake and aware for the long weeks that she spent with the others.... he suspected she wouldn't allow herself to sleep until she was far away from there.
Then one day his curiosity got the better of him.
He followed her as she flew from the ledge.
As she few out over the abyss that was the Twisting nether the illusion once again melted away in a swirl of colour and he had to speed up to keep pace with the woman as she went soaring at the fastest pace her green armoured griffin could go. He followed far more discreetly as she skirted the more dangerous area's of Shadowmoon valley and finally began her decent... straight into the Wildhammer Stronghold and suddenly her skill on a griffin made sense.
Dwarves had been the first to train Griffins, and therefore they had a skill unparalleled by any other race in the air, with the exception of a few.
The Dwarves on watch now barely blinked at her arrival and Ichman nearly hesitated before he too descended, only to be ignored when they figured he was a human and therefore not an enemy.
Their nonchalance stunned him.
The blonde he'd followed excited a stables where she'd left her griffin and headed for the inn at the top of the hill and ichman did the same, but not before taking a change of clothes from the saddlebags, abandoning his telltale blue shirt for something better kept. In old plate amour of an Alliance soldier, sans a tabard, he looked no different from any other adventurer on the road. So with some trepidation, he set off up the hill. People waved as he passed, some even smiled and he found himself smiling back to a few as he entered the in where a rowdy crowd was already gathered.
"HEY THERE LASS! BACK FROM YER TRAVELS ARE YE?" One dwarf roared across the noise and the level dropped as the woman stood a head and shoulders above nearly all the inhabitants of the Inn by the bar where a surly looking bartender had just slammed down a mug of ale. The Blonde wore a grin at the voice and replied with a grin in her voice.
"Why? Did you miss me that much Moke?" A few of their audience laughed uproariously and Moke greeted her with a slap to the lower back as she picked up the tankard in both hands and crossed the room to the dwarf's table. The noise resumed its previous roar and no one paid him any heed as he got his own meal and retreated to a corner to watch her. It was a plain tell of how well known the girl was around here.
During the course of the night he learned a few new details about his mystery Orc. Her Name was Auraion, she'd been an orphan of Stormwind, and she was a very powerful priestess.
And she was also a very accomplished drinker.
She tossed back drinks as easily as water, and even though she swayed in her seat, she never got sick, even when her companions passed out under the table. As the night wound down he decided he'd be better off turning in for the night and paid the innkeeper for a bed. He was lead to a twin room and told he would have to share with whoever else needed the space and left to his own devices before there was a clatter on the stairs of the dwarven cellar and who should enter but his Orc. Auraion stumbled around the door frame, catching it with her hand as she squinted at him, trying to take in his features even as her vision blurred them beyond all recognition.
"Do I'sh knowshh you?" She slurred, frowning and he murmured a 'no' as he finished disassembling his amour. Without another word she crossed the room, swaying on her feet to reach the furthest bed and collapsing on it gracelessly. She didn't seem to be bothered with her amour as she rolled over once and promptly fell asleep.
It took him a while to follow her into the land of dreams...
She certainly snored like an orc.
After the trip to Wildhammer stronghold it soon became a weekly habit to follow Auraion to the Inn where he was slowly getting to know the Alliance inhabitancy once again. It soon became apparent just how much he'd been missing as a whole new world seemed to open up before him and he was reminded of all the things that he'd found joy in before his bitter retreat into isolation on Netherwing ledge.
And slowly but surely he found himself getting closer and closer to his orc.
Where he once sat back in the corner of the room he found himself in the centre of it until one day he was sitting at her table, glaring across into blue eyes as he challenged her to a drinking competition. He remembered throwing back tankards that night, matching her drink for drink until it all became a blur, until he woke the next morning with a splitting headache and a hangover to make even the gods cry out in pain.
When he stumbled out into the inn holding his head he found the woman sipping tea and smiling.
"You lose." Was all she said before she disappeared.
That day she challenged him to a race.
He lost.
A/N: My first published attempt at a World of Warcraft fanfiction. It's only a one shot, because I'm still trying to get a feel for what's acceptable. As with any sort of multiplayer game it's all too easy to fall into a self insert... because lets face it. Unless you're using all cannon characters, it's way to tempting to be a bit of a Mary Sue with this sorta thing. The character is essentially you, and you wanna be the all powerful one.... Anyway. I just thought I'd introduce you to Auraion. Auraion is my Warcraft main (Obviously) and I plan on writing a rather more epic story about her later... when I don't have so many stories in the air, but it's not too bad having a one-shot here and there. (At least it's not a drabble. I hate those things.)
Ehhh, but enough ranting, I hope you at least vaguely liked it.
Don't forget to Review.
Cya