This is my first (serious) attempt at making a complete story. It will be fairly long and will tie into the lore of World of Warcraft. This is rated M for adult content. Usually I'm an editor rather than a writer but some friends demanded that I start writing, so here goes! I don't own anything; just the OCs in the story. Feel free to comment.
She woke up in the room next to her betrothed, each in their own bed. Aeda bit her dark red lip and slowly slipped out from beneath her sheets, smoothing her gown and dragging a brush through her ash-blonde hair before tying it into a long braid draped over one shoulder. Glancing occasionally at Verin's still-sleeping form, she couldn't help but to feel a longing to crawl into his bed... but no. Not until the wedding. She woke up every morning to write inscriptions, but today there seemed to be a chill in the air of Eversong as she prepared to gather herbs for milling into ink.
"Aeda, wait for me!" She whirled around, a smile playing on her lips as she saw the glint of Verin's crimson-and-gold armor as he jogged to her and picked her up in his arms. They stood with their foreheads touching and kissed each other softly. Aeda was the first to pull away; if they had stayed that close for too long she thought her self control would dissolve and she'd be one step closer to forsaking her values.
Sure, Verin was her fiance. But they weren't married yet, and despite the fact that he knew Aeda's morals, Verin was a man. The man she loved, who wasn't afraid of anything, particularly when it came to protecting her. Just the other week he had a brawl with an orc making lewd comments about her in a bar. Despite the orc's size, Verin came out of the fight with barely a scratch. Aeda admired Verin for that; strength and courage were two things that she lacked. Verin knew this, and always felt the need to protect his beautiful young bride-to-be. She couldn't say that she was unappreciative; lately, Eversong had been dangerous for those who didn't know how to throw a spell, stab something, or defend themselves in some other way. The animals were acting restless, sometimes even attacking the High Elves when unprovoked.
"Skysong, I know how you are without your rest. I'll be fine." Aeda smiled at the exasperated look on his face, already knowing what his response would be.
"How could I rest knowing you're in danger, Love? It is my job to protect those like you." His gentle hands on her waist and half-smile were enough to make her want to melt. Aeda ran her fingers through Verin's long blue-black hair and stood on her toes to kiss that defined jaw of his, then she took his hand and they began wandering the woods, searching for herbs.
The day passed quickly as it always did when the two were together; Aeda's bright smiles and laughter made Verin beam, and there seemed to be no end to their conversations. Eventually, Verin pointed out that it was nearly dusk and they should hurry home. Aeda was about to respond when they heard the first screams, large groups of people running frantically, and smelled the stench of smoke and death. Stomach churning, Aeda stared wide-eyed at her fiance.
"What's going on?" She choked out, clinging to Verin's armored chest.
"I don't know exactly, but we're obviously under attack. Let's move." He grabbed her by the arm and the couple started sprinting East, back towards their home. This was the version of her betrothed that Aeda didn't know nearly so well; gone were the easy smiles and adoring look in his eyes. He was starting to become the seasoned warrior, the commander, that she had only heard about in stories as a girl.
With his greatsword drawn, Verin calmly ordered each of the High elves that they ran into to fight near the villages if they looked strong, or to seek shelter in the nearest guarded areas if they looked like amateurs. From these frantic people, Aeda pieced together most of the story: the Lich King was here, ready to take the Sunwell for his own. He brought a vast army of horrid undead minions, which only kept growing as more and more elves fell in the battle. How could Silvermoon be so unprepared? Why was nobody warned? Aeda didn't have time to mull the questions over as Verin shoved her to the side with a shout, and in less than a second he was being swarmed by reanimated, rotting corpses. Aeda screamed, and looked around wildly for something, anything, to help fight these monsters. Verin was handling the ambush well on his own; most of the group of armored skeletons, ghouls, and geists were dead once more at his feet, but a fresh wave of fear washed over her as she saw a foul behemoth lumbering over.
"Oh, by the Light." She whispered, her face pale. There was no way that even Verin could handle this thing alone, not to mention the new swarm on risen skeletons trailing in its wake. Verin glanced at Aeda, then his eyes found what she was staring at with such horror.
Sweat glistening on his brow, Verin smiled sadly at Aeda as he pulled her to her feet and gave her a bone-crushing hug. "My love, you must go. I'll hold them back and then I will find you after this is over." She knew the last part was a lie, and that's when the tears finally leaked from her lavender eyes. She shook her head, begging him to come with her. Just run.
"Verin, don't leave me like this. You can't!" She was nearing hysteria.
"RUN, Aeda! Just leave; you'll be the death of both of us if you don't go. Just leave." Verin's words stung like a slap to her face. She didn't have time to be hurt for long; the undead were almost upon them again.
Running a few yards, Aeda found a discarded bow and a few arrows. She didn't hesitate to pick up the weapon and tried to mimic the Rangers that were far to her left, shooting at the grotesque creation. She could smell its stench now; its guts hung outside of the body, and limbs were attached to places where no creature was ever born with them. Each held some evil-looking weapon with glinting black metal; one had a hook and chain, others had cleavers, spiked maces. There was no way the unprepared High Elves of Quel'Thalas could win this battle against the Scourge.
Aeda barely registered the death of each of the Rangers, but her scream was deafening even to her own ears one the undead monstrosity turned to her Verin, and struck him with a mace with such force that the warrior fell to the ground many feet from where he had stood a moment before. Verin barely twitched his hands up with his sword angled to pierce the terrible creation's rotting core right as it landed a hit crushing his chest. Neither Verin or the monster moved any more; save for the ground-shaking thud of the abomination. She didn't know how long she stayed next to Verin's corpse, sobbing loudly in the dark, smoke-filled scar in the land.
Eventually, the fallen Rangers were reanimated as banshees, and having a bow, Aeda was killed and raised again as one. It was a long time before the Lich King's grasp broke, and she was freed from him along with the rest of the Forsaken. Sylvanas, Aeda and the rest of the Dark Rangers managed to find their bodies and inhabit them once more, but the rest of Azeroth viewed them as monsters. Shortly after Aeda swore fealty to the Banshee Queen, she made her leave rather than stay and fight for Lordaeron with the vast majority of the free-willed undead.
Alone with her grief, shunned by nearly every living race, and without any regard for her own life, Aeda wandered aimlessly. Maybe I'm in Hillsbrad Foothills now? It seems familiar, but it's been years since I was in this area... She squinted with her glowing red eyes, trying to remember the last place she had passed. She couldn't remember, and felt a slight pang of embarrassment. Well this is great. What would Verin say? He'd surely scold me for being such a fool.
Aeda's mind wandered to all the things she wished she had done differently. She knew that if she had run as Verin told her, his death wouldn't have been in vain. If she had bothered to learn how to fight properly, she may have helped save him. If she hadn't been so caught up in silly morals she could have shown him just how much he meant to her. If only he knew.
Sucking in a breath, Aeda caught sight of Dark Rangers camouflaged near the scattered trees ahead. What in the world...? Curiously, Aeda looked around and made her way towards the nearest one with a hand reaching back for her bow, the other pulling her hooded black cloak over her hair. It was still mostly ash-blond save for the ends, which had turned light blue somehow in undeath. Before Aeda got within 20 yards of the other Dark Ranger, she stopped in her tracks.
"Oh, fuck," Aeda muttered in Orcish, her eyes widening as she started backing away from the pack of worgen now attempting to rip apart the struggling Ranger and her giant spider companion. Shaking her head, Aeda began firing arrows at the pack. After what seemed to be hours (but was really about five minutes), the injured Ranger spotted Aeda and nodded her head in acknowledgement and thanks. Aeda nodded back, then turned and began walking back to the road. Her questions weren't worth watching somebody get torn apart; she doubted that her already-scarred mind could handle that.
If it were me getting attacked, I wouldn't fight. Maybe this curse would end, and I would see my love again. With a grim smile, Aeda saw the single worgen with purple eyes glowing as it tackled her. Those look like my eyes. The air in her lungs rushed out with a huff as she fell on her back, and she didn't bother reaching for her bow or the knife on her hip. Instead, she spread out underneath the huge black beast with her hands by her long hair, exposing her mail-armored chest, bare stomach, and slender legs clad in fitted leather with studs and a layer of mail slung over her hips. She felt a strange emotion with the animal over her, baring its teeth and snarling with those claws curved as if to rip out her organs. It wasn't fear, but... excitement?
"Go on then," she said raggedly in the Common tongue, smirking.
The beast didn't move, but stared at her utter confusion with his eyes softening slightly as the feral sound in his throat died. "You speak common... elf?" The worgen asked with his deep, gravelly voice that sounded like a growl. It sent a shiver down Aeda's spine.
"Yes, wolf," She cocked her head, trying to glare at him. "Now do your job and kill me already. End this torment; I want to see-" she closed her eyes and paused. "It doesn't matter. Just... Hurry up." Aeda looked into the worgen's narrowed eyes with her own, devoid of emotion.
"What is wrong with you, little blood elf?" He muttered, standing up over her and setting her back onto her feet. "You really want to die, without a fight? You are not like these other Dark Rangers. I saw you kill other worgen to save that one up in the clearing, yet you do nothing to save yourself. Explain."
Aeda didn't speak for a moment, but when she finally did, her whole story came out as if somebody had removed the dam containing the thoughts and memories in her mind. It was the middle of the night before Aeda finished telling the worgen everything about her life in Eversong, her betrothal to Verin, the battle against the Scourge, and her life as a renegade for the last several years. The worgen listened patiently under a tree. They decided to make a fire for the time being, his body and the flames warming Aeda.
"Your Verin was 400 years older than you? How old are you, elf?" the beast asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.
"132. That's about 19 as most mortal life spans compare." Aeda glanced up from the piece of raw stag she was nibbling on, and saw her new companion tear at his piece with fangs as long as her fingers.
"So... I'm older than you. I'm nearly 25." His laugh sounded halfway between a bark and a human laugh.
Aeda smiled slightly, "Doesn't mean you're smarter, wolf. You should have killed me."
"My name is Shiv. Or, at least that's what my friends call me. Why would I kill you, girl? You didn't fight back, didn't slaughter my kind in cold blood..."
"Because you're Alliance, and I am Horde. And keeping me... alive, I suppose... is cruel. I just wanted to see Verin again." Aeda's voice rose, bitter tears sliding down her beautiful porcelain face. "You won't even grant me that. What kind of monsters do you Alliance dogs aim to be?"
Shiv snarled softly, "Watch it," He warned. "I didn't kill you because it didn't feel right; you are an elf. When was the last time anybody treated you as one instead of as just another undead minion of the Banshee Queen? When was the last time somebody listened to you speak, or did this?" Shiv pulled Aeda onto his lap as if she weighed nothing, his huge arms wrapped around her lithe body and his muzzle rested between her neck and shoulder.
Speechless, Aeda slowly began to relax as Shiv's claws untangled her hair and his warmth burned through her. His huge body gave her comfort. "To answer your questions," she whispered, "Never. Not since..." she swallowed, holding back more tears. Usually she didn't allow herself to cry, but for some reason her emotions were raw when she was with this man.
Shiv understood, and very gently traced Aeda's lower lip with one claw to silence her. She closed her eyes, and leaned back into the worgen's broad chest, her fingers exploring the muscles and scars underneath the fur. Aeda could have sworn Shiv started purring as he adjusted her, cradling her as if she were his to protect. Why is he treating me as if I'm not a monster? Surely this would be considered treason if his comrades found out. Why do I feel so safe? She didn't have the energy to ponder the questions before she fell asleep, and Shiv followed suit shortly after. Their breathing was synchronized, and for once they both had a restful night.
