A/N: sorry for the previous version of the story! It was a repost by accident. You are now reading the correct, official part two.
On one side of a shaded cobblestone road in rural Suramar, a flash of purple and green folded over itself in the verdant grass. Grunts and growls echoed in the trees, combining with the dust and grass kicked up as the two blurs of color wrestled with each other briefly. Despite the violent movement, no blood had yet been shed as the two blurs fought for dominance.
Prismatic light shifted in the purple range of the color spectrum as a feline roar rang out one last time. Defiant no longer, a purple mana saber tried to kick its attacker one more time after being pinned, but eventually gave in to the curses inflicting its mind. Even a creature composed mostly of arcane magic could resist the mind control of voodoo for only so long. Triumphant, a green skinned and green haired woman clad in bone, wood and leather rolled over the big cat, putting it in a headlock and wrapping one of her legs around its front paw to avoid getting scratched. After nearly ten minutes of struggling with the creature, she found herself able to breathe as she retained her grip on its head and neck.
Panting as they both caught their breath, the green and purple blurs became splotches as they both found themselves out of energy. Opalescent and violet fur heaved as the runesaber's body failed to resist the curse applied to its willpower, granting the forest troll ample time to catch her breath prior to the execution. Whispering a brief prayer of thanks, she relaxed her grip only enough to allow her to drag her skinning knife across the animal's jugular. The blade was so sharp, and her slice to smooth, that the runesaber didn't even seem to notice as it shut its eyes and bled to death.
Arcane mana staining her arms, the green woman let go of her kill and sat up straight, sifting through her travel pack until she produced an odd attunement stone covered in runes. Upon dragging her fingers across the etched marks, the stone began to hum, vibrating as the various shades of violet on the animal's skin fluctuated in asymmetrical patterns. Strands of arcane magic flowed from the corpse to the stone, draining the ancient mana for later use.
Although she'd fared well, Kenda had taken a measure of damage from the runesaber's teeth and claws, and thick blood dripped down her arms, back and legs. She was capable of healing herself, but preferred to allow her natural regeneration to close up the wounds if possible. After quite the afternoon hunting down the mystical mana cats, she felt she needed the solitude and a bit of a mental rest.
Pulling out her waterskin, Kenda took a few swigs as she inspected the scenery. "Crazy ass junkies," she murmured, remembering the weird night elves who weren't really night elves and had begged her for more ancient mana if they were to open portals for her. Or something like that.
At least her surroundings were pleasant to look at. She hadn't really noticed the long, limp branches of the willows previously since she'd been pursuing all the runesabers in the area, but she'd just killed the last of them. All potential threats removed, Kenda spread her palms out behind her, crossed her legs, and just enjoyed the feeling of the soft leaves covering the grass.
The hills and backwater areas of Suramar were quite nice to look at. She didn't enjoy them as much as she enjoyed her native woods back in Lordaeron, but the enchanted forest to the north of the urban area held a certain charm that couldn't be denied. A light breeze caused the treetops to sway, granting her occasional glimpses of the sun that were quickly covered again when the branches of the various high trees converged. The trees weren't as high as the ones where she came from, nor as straight, but their curvy and almost rounded nature provided the sort of seclusion such an afternoon called for. Long after she'd already caught her breath, she continued to sit in the grass, just enjoying the smells and sounds all around her.
If she closed her eyes and focused for a moment, she could almost hear the faint chirps of birds in the treetops far, far away. Her sensitive hearing helped her to guess that the sound might have been coming from over a mile away, though the occasional return of the breeze would cause their songs to be lost in the wind. She didn't mind, of course. She'd been the Broken Isles for a few months, mostly being sent on missions behind enemy lines, alone, and given only minimal supplies. She was getting the adventure she'd craved ever since she'd left the Hinterlands, but it was only there, on that grassy gnoll in the woodlands of Suramar, that she realized she could use a break.
In between short gusts of the wind, she noticed that the birds had stopped chirping. Whether they'd decided to fly away or simply fallen silent was lost to her, and she tried to ignore the relative silence and enjoy the warm, tingly sensation in the back of her head as she tried to relax. Not that she was complaining about the recognition she'd gained for her skills - being a Jill-of-all-trades, she'd both saved lives with her healing, captured important Legion enemies with her status ailments, and brought down an eredar or two when her martial skills were called for. She was never short of work from her commanding officers, and that's what she'd always wanted, but still...it was nice to rest without killing anything for a while.
Only faintly did her long ears pick up the sound of rapid footsteps. Far, far away, in the same direction as the birds, the sounds of a bipedal creature running reached her. Although the speed was quite high, whoever it was was still a good ways away, and Kenda had to force herself to lazily open her eyes and cock her head to the side. Over the horizon and in between the high trees, a dark figure dressed in purple approached. Unlike the runesaber she'd slain, however, this was most definitely sentient, armed, and heading right for her.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"
Just as she'd experienced in Falonaar just after her arrival in the Broken Isles, Kenda noticed a familiar face sprinting toward her as if the world was coming to an end. The closer the figure came, the more details became apparent, though they weren't necessary to identify the person. The moment that Kenda noticed the war glaives, purple hair and distinctively tied blindfold, she knew exactly who it was.
Irritated, unnerved, and frankly shocked that the spastic night elf had tracked her down, she popped her joints and rose up from the grass, gripping her arm-length fel blades and measuring the remaining distance in between them. Her long-lost enemy was running faster than Kenda's ground mount could have, almost forming a blur of purple and dark grey as the gap was closed. The demon hunter broke into the clearing where Kenda's grass gnoll was, slowing down only long enough to seemingly size up their surroundings.
Even when the shadow hunter took a defensive stance, Neruda didn't hesitate. "Finally, it's time for my glorious revenge!" the eyeless elf yelled into the enormous clearing, filling the area with an absolutely infuriated voice.
Kenda rolled her eyes. "Cheesy," she retorted in Low Common before drawing on her mana pool. Voodoo magic tingled the surface of her skin, brightening her vision for a few moments as she gathered up the power for an early advantage in the unwanted nuisance of a fight. "Hun, I only be warning you once...back off. Neither of us needs to be fighting each other." Her warning went unheeded, and the horned night creature kept on coming. "Alright, you asked for it," she said again when she realized that there was no way to avoid conflict with the proverbial blast from her past.
Neruda came within perhaps only five yards of the forest troll before the crazed woman seemed to realize that a spell was being cast. Although she didn't have eyes, her long eyebrows were visible enough to reflect her glare.
"Not this time!" Neruda shouted as she actually dug her heels into the ground and stopped herself so abruptly that she almost lost her balance. "Raa!"
A cold feeling washed over the surface of Kenda's skin, causing her to gasp out loud as the same feeling as a severely empty stomach hit her hard. She was fine physically, but the hollowness of an interrupted spell stung her as she realized that Neruda had consumed her magic only a few seconds into their encounter.
"Don't be forcing my hand!" Kenda growled, now legitimately irritated. Raising her blades, she prepared for the inevitable clash.
Lines cut at her through the air in several directions, testing her blocking skills as Neruda dashed and dove all over the place. Kenda raised her arms, keeping her elbow bent the way she'd been taught and deflecting the blows patiently. Her opponent was fast, and seemed to pivot and change direction more dextrously than she had during their previous encounter. Swinging from the left, from the right, jumping in the air and bringing her glaives down, Neruda was like a ball of energy drinking raw sugar, throwing everything except the kitchen sink within what couldn't have been longer than five seconds. Kenda wouldn't have known because she was too busy swinging her shoulders and elbows to block blade with blade, duck or dodge when necessary, and circling around to give way against the barrage without allowing herself to be pushed against the trees. She hissed a few times when Neruda successfully landed a few cuts on the mossy hide of her forearms and shoulders, but otherwise found defending herself about as easy as it had been back at the practice yard in her hometown.
Parrying the attacks was made easier, of course, by the attacker's ridiculous habit of screaming her moves out loud as she performed them.
"Ha ha! Ha ha! Chaos strike, chaos strike, blade dance, chaos strike, fel rush!" Neruda screamed with glee as she tried to charge right into her target. "I am unstoppable!"
When Neruda rushed at the end of the surprisingly forceful barrage, Kenda simply sidestepped, having noticed the kick of Neruda's heels before the aggressive elf had even screamed 'fel rush' at the top of her lungs.
"Haaaaaa!" Neruda screamed so hoarsely that she sounded like a chain smoker, though Kenda had noticed that most members of her class sounded a bit demonic like that.
Green fel fire lit the grass ablaze in a trail behind her, granting Kenda a veritable arrow pointing to her target when Neruda's fel rush missed by literally a few feet. Not granting her opponent the chance to regroup, Kenda took her turn to rush forward, forcing Neruda to spin around in a circle to meet her strike defensively. Though Kenda lacked the wide array of melee techniques of her opponent, she was as capable with her blades as Zul'jin had been, and laid into Neruda so hard that the woman was knocked sideways even when successfully blocking.
"Grrr! No! NO! This isn't how it's suppose to! Argh!" Neruda growled back, visibly frustrated by being put on the defensive.
Try as she might, the night elf wasn't able to counterattack. Kenda continued her slower but harder strikes, knocking Neruda backward every time the mad elf tried to make a comeback. On the last of several slices, the forest troll actually broke Neruda's parry attempt, jarring the eyeless woman's wrist so roughly that Neruda dropped one of her war glaives and essentially lost the ability to defend herself on one side. Kenda only needed one more successful strike to sever the woman's arm, and given her level of irritation, she had half a mind not to be as merciful as she'd been last-
"Haaa!" Neruda yelled while leaping straight back. She landed a few yards away, successfully putting distance in between them and buying herself a small bit of time. Instead of using that time intelligently, however, she appeared to be swinging her single war glaives in the air in front of her like a sort of martial arts demostration.
"Hooaaa! Hah! Heeeyaa! Ho!" the night elf shouted, unaware of the fact that Kenda could have just dashed forward and cut her down on the spot.
Instead, it was the forest troll's turn for a momentary lapse in reason, and she just stood there, stupefied by what she was seeing. "Dafuq?" Kenda asked out loud, unsure of what exactly her attacker was trying to pull.
Surprisingly, Neruda seemed absolutely dead serious. "And now I'll show you my final form!" she yelled in a threatening yet ragged voice.
Kenda was just about ready to drop her weapons and ask who'd paid Neruda for the bad prank. Disbelief caused her to drop her guard, and she barely even acted as green embers flaked off of Neruda's skin. "What the...final form? Seriously? What you be, like twelve years old HOLY SHIT WHAT BE WRONG WITH YOU!"
Green smoke puffed into the air as Neruda underwent a metamorphosis, growing until she was even bigger than the forest troll, sprouting wings, and burning like a true demon. Stomping her gnarled feet on the ground, mega-Neruda raised her fists in the air and screeched in a warped, possessed voice somewhat akin to that of a shivarra.
"Ha hahahaha!" the warped demon-elf-hybrid cackled into the air while tossing her head back. "Now you'll see the true meaning of real ultimate power! Cower before me as I cast you down with my righteous vengeance and furious anger! And - wait, what are you mumbling ACK NO NO!"
While Neruda had been busy delivering some sort of a prepared revenge speech where she'd ostensibly detail her evil plan, Kenda had realized that the spell lock she'd been hit with moments ago had already worn off. Gathering up most of her mana pool, she multi-casted several different voodoo curses at once, afflicting Neruda with fatigue, weakness, dizziness, searing pain in most of her nervous system, and an annoying spontaneous buildup of earwax just for good measure. The mass of curses hit the demon hunter all at once, causing her massive metamorphosized frame to double over for a split second.
That split second was all the shadow hunter needed, or wanted. Not even bothering to taunt her attacker, Kenda pounced, slicing several nasty gashes into Neruda's undefended arm without granting the woman the chance to protect herself. In an attempt to strike back, Neruda swung wildly with her remaining glaive, the curses wearing her too much to swing with force and paining her too much to really focus. She missed by a long shot, allowing Kenda to bring her blade down across the woman's stomach and hip. Neruda fell to the ground face first while still in demon form, but Kenda sliced the webbing of her temporary wings just for good measure.
Defeated in the duel and brought to the brink of her health, Neruda reverted to her normal elven form, oddly seeming to bear less severe wounds when she transformed back into herself. There were still painful looking wounds on her arm and abdomen, but they weren't nearly as deep or threatening as they'd been when initially inflicted on her demon form. Not wanting to wait and see if she'd still be able to attack, Kenda repeated the same end to their previous battle.
"Come here, you!" Kenda snapped while pulling the spare rope she always kept tied in a loop to her belt. Not even bothering with Neruda's wounded arm, she just tied the woman's ankles tightly and started to drag her backward in the grass.
Exhausted but retaining barely enough energy to speak, Neruda's voice broke like it had during their encounter at the Ledgermain Inn weeks prior. "I was winning! I was winning!" she lamented, sounding more sad than angry as Kenda dragged her on her wounded stomach over to a tree. "I can't lose in my final form! I would have destroyed you if you'd actually fought me courageously!"
Kenda tossed the end of the rope over a high branch, waiting for the slack to come down so she could tie a knot on the length. "Which be why I didn't actually try to fight you," she said as she hoisted Neruda up in the air, letting her dangle from the branch.
Neruda squealed angrily as she was raised up in the air, squirming as her own blood dripped down her upside-down body. "That's cheating! You cheated, you cheater! I would have won! I would have been able to claim my victory! You were supposed to be my trophy!"
"I be asking you why, and why me, and why you want those other elfies to acknowledge your existence-"
"Don't! Don't! Don't talk about that, I won't allow you to talk about that!"
"Calm down!" Kenda replied while tightening the knot, leaving Neruda to dangle upside down from the high tree branch. "You not be in any position to allow or disallow anything anyway. So here's what I'm gonna do."
"Die! You will die! I swear to Elune, you will die!" Neruda screamed while helplessly thrashing around, splashing blood on Kenda in the process.
"Shut up for a minute, okay?"
"I'll find you again, and next time you'll lose!"
"What be making you think I won't just kill you right now?"
Kenda's threat only seemed to encourage the mad elf. "Aha! I knew it! You think you can gain honor points by collecting my body parts as a quest item, don't you! Ha!" Neruda sincerely laughed, looking completely unintimidated despite the fact that the curse had rendered her too weak to reach up and untie her ankles. "Well, do your worst! I underwent all sorts of torture when my comrades and I were captured by Cordana Felsong's militants in Falonaar! You won't receive any gratification from killing me!"
Breathing heavily, Kenda measured her options. She was royally pissed off and slightly shaken after realizing that she'd almost been murdered by this person, and incensed by the total lack of remorse. Regardless, a sort of weird pity that even confused herself welled up inside of her when she watched the battered, bruised, bloody elf with no eyes ranting about being tortured while tied to a tree.
Kenda had taken many lives on the battlefield, some of them less deserving of death than Neruda, but...no. Not that day. Not this time.
"I'll not be killing you, hun...loa guide me if I be wrong," she sighed while slinging her blades behind her back.
Unsatisfied, Neruda almost became more animated upon learning that she'd be spared. Defiant to the very end, she continued to rant despite winding at the pain from the voodoo and the deep cuts in her arm. "Oh, so it's torture, then? You don't know who you're dealing with! No, you have no idea! Go ahead, put out your cigarettes on my skin, I won't break!"
Kenda raised one of her hairless eyebrows in confusion. "What? No."
"Oh, not violent enough for you, huh? I know, you plan on pulling out my teeth? Well, Felsong already did that! Look, look!" Neruda said while painfully pointing toward her mouth."
Kenda just started to walk away, feeling that she'd heard enough. "Nope. Not gonna look," she said, exasperated.
"You can hit me with anything or shove your blade anywhere, I won't crack! You won't break me, you can't! Not even if you twist my ears or use clamps on my-"
"Eww, shut the hell up! What be wrong with you?" Kenda yelled, finally raising her voice enough to silence her former attacker. Searching for a way to keep Neruda quiet long enough for her to retreat, Kenda reached into her belt pouch and pulled out a small rectangular card. "Look, just take this, and I swear you better not ever attack me again."
"Oh! Oh! What's this? Paper cuts? I've taken worse!"
Kenda slipped the card beneath Neruda's blindfold, promptly walking away and talking over her shoulder. "It be a business card for Dr. Wilhelm Finklesnap. He my brother's court ordered anger management counselor in Dalaran. Seriously, go get yourself checked out."
Appearing even more floored than when she'd been hit by Kenda's curses, Neruda's jaw dropped open (while she was still upside down, which looked really bizarre). Completely floored, she moved her lips a few times as if she didn't quite know what to say, not seeming to realize that Kenda was already halfway out of the large clearing with her ancient mana and most of her wounds already regenerating. Incensed that she'd been bested by an act of mercy, Neruda struggled in the rope again, spitting out elven cuss words as Kenda walked away, who was victorious again, but also not waiting around for round three.
Outside of the clearing, a lone nightfallen man was waiting. Twitching, scrawny and constantly scratching himself, he displayed surprising patience as he waited for Kenda to pass him by on her way back to the nearest flight point. Theryn held his hand out to accept the quick fix of ancient mana, clinging to it but watching the sputtering elf tied to a tree off in the distance.
Looking from Kenda to Neruda and back to Kenda, he seemed slightly overwhelmed by the ordeal he'd witnessed while waiting for his ancient mana. "Man, that lady has some serious issues," the cracked out nightfallen junkie said without a hint of irony.
Kenda didn't even look at him after handing off his fix, just continuing to walk toward the nearest road as she tried to find her mount. "Yeah," she mumbled, shaking her head silently as she wondered by weird people seemed to follow her no matter where she went.
She hoped she wouldn't regret showing mercy to the woman who was quickly becoming her arch enemy...