*Disclaimer I do not own World of Warcraft, all I own is my OCs Kairo and Adderfang and the plot.*
Everything looks the same. I can feel the icy winds rustle my fur and chill me to the bone. Blood. All I can smell is blood, my own blood, running down my body in small rivers. I hear it dripping onto the fresh snow, staining it red.
SNAP! My ears twitch at the sound, I turn and face in the direction of the sound, a low growl rumbles in the back of my throat. I shout out, "Who's there?" but receive no answer. In the distance I can make out the outline of two figures. As they approach I can hear two gruff voices speaking in a strange language, no... they're arguing. Please don't be a Vrykul patrol, I plead with whatever God is listening.
As they walk closer to me I flatten myself against the fallen tree I decided to rest by to get out of the harsh wind, hoping they don't notice me. I soon realise that, as they get closer, they're not Vrykul but orcs. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding, thank the Gods. The taller of the two stops when he notices me leant against the tree. I scent the air, I can tell that the green orc doesn't belong in this frozen forest... but there is something familiar about his scent that I cant quite figure out.
"Are you okay?" The green orc's deep voice pulls me out of my thoughts, was he talking to me this whole time?
"Yeah, I'm just peachy. What gave me away?" Sarcasm dripping from my every word. The green orc's eyes narrow slightly at my statement. The other orc, a brown skin, growls at me and raises his battleaxe slightly in an unspoken threat. On instinct my muscles tense and I crouch closer to the ground in a defensive stance. A snarl tears itself from my throat and I bare my fangs in an unspoken challenge. The brown orc just laughs. Doesn't he know a threat when he sees one?
The brown orc takes a step forward. "Do not disrespect the warchief of the Horde!" Warchief? Does he mean Thrall? OH! Come to think of it this green orc does look familiar. Maybe he is Thrall.
"I didn't know. I'm probably bleeding to death and he asks me if I'm okay? Kind of a stupid question, ain't it?" All I get in response is a grunt of acknowledgement, I look to the green orc "so you're the great warchief Thrall?" At my question Thrall's eyes softened but the brown Orc, who I can assume is Garrosh Hellscream of the Warsong Orcs, tightens his grip on his battleaxe. Thrall approaches me and I back away, I'm already covered in blood and I don't want to loose more. Thrall notices my movement and sits cross-legged in the snow a few feet in front of me.
"Garrosh lower your weapon and sit." Garrosh complies without argument,a s he sits my eyes flicker from Thrall's face to Garrosh's. Why are they here? And why me?
"So, what brings the warchief to the frozen forests of the Howling Fjord?" Garrosh looks away, anger burning in his amber eyes. Thrall looks down for a moment, sighing. Well, at least I'll have company before my body fails me. I feel what strength I have left start to fade, the edges of my vision bleeds black and my head feels heavy on my shoulders.
"A portal mishap... a miscommunication with a mage..." Thrall's voice fades out as I loose consciousness. I feel my body fall and hit the snow I've stained red before my mind completely blacks out. The last thing I see is Thrall lunging towards me before my vision fades.
- 2 days later -
I wake up to the smell of medicinal herbs and the sounds of voices. I can barely make out their conversation...
"He's lucky that he survived." A female voice, hard and strong. It sounds like Adderfang, the tribes healer.
"We found him before he blacked out, one of your patrols found us." A male voice this time, gruff and deep yet oddly soothing. AHH! My head is killing me. I try to sit up but I'm met with a heavy hand pushing me back down.
"Rest. You need it," I open my eyes and come face to face with Thrall. "No need to strain yourself. You're safe."
"What happened?" I let Thrall push me back down to the bed. He turns and pulls over a stool. He sits heavily next to my bed and sighs.
"You passed out on us back there. I healed you the best I could. One of your tribe's patrols found us and brought you back here." Healed me? But how? He doesn't look like a healer.
"How...?" My voice gets caught in the back of my throat as I'm ravaged by a coughing fit. Thrall turns to a nearby table to pick up a cup.
"Drink this. It'll help." He hands me a cup, I take it with trembling hands. I grimace at the sent of the liquid, Thrall taps the rim of the cup, "Herbs."
"What?" My eyes meet with Thrall's blue eyes, filled with raw emotion, I can't hold his gaze for long and turn my head back down to the cup. Swishing the liquid around in the cup, "Healing herbs, I'm guessing Adderfang gave them to you? She tends to have an abundance of herbs around."
Thrall just looks at me, his eyes filled with an emotion I can't quite name. He shakes his head, "You don't remember me do you? You really have forgotten." I turn at the tone of his voice, have I met him before? He does look familiar. "Spirits, you even asked me my name, of course you don't remember."
Thrall stands to leave, I reach out to grab his wrist, "Wait, there is something familiar about you that I can't figure out and its frustrating. Help me to remember, please?" A whimper echoes throughout my chest. I hear the wood of the stool creak. He sat back down, maybe he'll help me remember.
I feel Thrall's hand engulf mine reminding me I still hold his wrist in an iron grip, "Why? Why don't you remember, Kairo?" Thrall's voice is low and sombre. My ears flatten against my head, that name bringing strange memories to the front of my mind.
Flashback
Sounds of humans cheering and shouting fill the air around us. I look around the arena, the dead bodies of ogres and hellboars litter the ground. The ring master's voice booms over the delighted screams of the crowd, "Well, another excellent victory to our contestants. It seems our resident wolf is still itching for a fight, let's see if they can handle the next challenger!" The crowd erupts in cheers.
I feel a hand rest on the nape of my neck, "You need to calm down, losing yourself to adrenaline won't help us win this next fight." I turn to face Thrall, my ears twitching at the sound around us, his hand tightens on my scruff causing my muscles to freeze. His other hand raises, pointing a finger to the opposite side of the arena, "Get ready, here comes our next fight."
I follow his finger to where he is pointing, just as a huge magnataur comes rampaging out of the iron gate, roaring a challenge. My lips pull back into a snarl, roaring back in response to the beast's challenge. "Maybe we'll eat tonight, Thrall. But this magnataur, well he's fair game." I go to lunge forward towards the beast but Thrall grabs hold of my scruff effectively holding me back. A voice sounds in the back of my mind, this beast offers a challenge we can kill it and this orc won't stop us.
"Kairo! We need to think about this, don't charge in blind. He'll kill you in the blink of an eye."
Flashback end
"Kairo!" Thrall's voice cut through my memories bringing me back to the present, there was a familiar weight resting at the nape of my neck. "Kairo, are you okay? You look... kind of lost."
"You, you was there. The day I lost myself to the shadows of my own mind, the day I went feral. Thrall, you was there through it all. The arena, the cages..." I trail off, losing myself to the terrible memories of Lord Aedelas Blackmoore and his arenas. I look over at Thrall, his normally bright blue eyes have dulled to a cold steel blue, "do you remember? The day you broke out? They all said to leave me, that I'd just kill you but you wouldn't leave me there, caged like the wild animal I was." A growl resonates in my throat at the thought of being locked up again. "I was chained to that wall, Thrall. An iron collar round my neck keeping me from pacing, I was stir crazy in that cell. A wolf with nowhere to run free, only when I was dragged to the arena was I able to burn of some pent up energy and lash out in anger."
Thrall finally looks at me, anger and hatred brightening his blue eyes, "Yes, I was there, back then I hadn't realised that you had gone feral. Only recently from talking to King Greymane that I've started to piece together what happened to you." Thrall turns towards the doorway as Adderfang walks in.