Iaphagena dismounts from her gryphon and strides calmly into the Southwind Cleft.
Finally, an ogre notices her and bellows a challenge. Gena responds with a frost shock and several lightning bolts.
The ogre is almost to her, grinning manically and hefting a massive axe over its head in preparation for a killing blow. Charging up her final lightning bolt, Gena lets it explode from her fingertips into the ogre's face.
The ogre stops dead, his axe at a ninety-degree angle, mere feet above Gena's head. The only sign of movement is a violent twitch that tightens the ogre's grip on its axe. Cautiously, Gena steps back, wary of deception.
She needn't have bothered. Right as she takes her first step, the ogre topples backward to slam on its back. The force of the fall frees the axe from the ogre's hand. The axe rolls off the ogre's hands and rotates in midair, finally landing blade-first in its face.
Gena grins in triumph before looking around. Her eyes widen as several frost bolts hit her in the chest. She takes one vaporous breath before her eyes roll into her head and she falls to the ground unconscious.
Gena's eyes fly open. She starts to lift her head and immediately puts it back down. Unfortunately, her head continues to pound as if someone were beating it with a hammer. Gritting her teeth, she raises herself into a sitting position and looks around. A bewildered look springs to her face as she realizes she's exactly where she fell. She looks down and realizes her armor is gone, along with her mace and shield.
Shakily, she gets to her feet. Then a flash of light and a hard impact to the top of her head leaves her dazed. A Draenei walks up to her and whispers, "You Kurenai should stay huddled in Telaar rather than sully the rest of Draenor with your presence."
Gena's eyes widen as the Draenei comes into focus. The gleam of his armor and the light infusing his mace leave no doubt that he is a paladin.
"I...I...don't know...what you mean," Gena stammers.
"Oh, I think you do, vermin," he replied.
Gena sighs. "Where are my armor and weapons?" she asks warily.
"Safely tucked away and under our control," he says imperiously.
"Our?" she asks.
Then she feels the bruising impact of a shield on her back that sends her flying. Her arms go up reflexively and create furrows in the ground as she slides to a stop with her face buried in the grass.
"Did you see how far she flew, Vykk?" the warrior asks merrily, chuckling.
Vykk walks up to her prostrate form and lifts her up by her horn. Vykk releases her horn as she regains her footing. Her fists clench in impotent fury as she glares at him with thinly veiled hate.
"Now, now, Kurenai. You should show respect to your betters.
"Kneel," Vykk orders.
"No," Gena says defiantly.
Vykk purses his lips. "Very well," he says.
Suddenly, Gena feels a sharp impact to her leg accompanied by a loud crack. She cries out in pain as her broken leg gives out and her knees slam into ground. Her hands clench dirt and grass as she tries to regain her balance.
"There, now kiss my boot," Vykk says, sounding almost bored.
Breathing heavily and grimacing, Gena manages to grate out, "No."
Her breath comes out in a whoosh as the warrior kicks her hard in the stomach, forcing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground curled into a fetal ball. She struggles into a sitting position facing Vykk, glaring daggers.
As she gathers her breath to cry for help, the warrior charges her and grabs her by the throat, lifting her into the air. She kicks at his head with her good leg and is rewarded with a brief hoof print on the side of his face.
The warrior cries out in surprise, "Hey, not the face!"
Narrowing his eyes, he tightens his grip on her throat, severely restricting her windpipe. She gasps for breath and claws futilely at his hand. Then, seeming to tire of it, the warrior opens his hand.
Gena takes the full impact on her broken leg, which crumples beneath her. Tears finally spring to her eyes and she begins sobbing into the ground.
"Seems like the vermin has finally had enough," Vykk says thoughtfully.
The warrior picks Gena up roughly, pinning her arms to her sides with a bear hug. He carries her a few yards and dumps her onto a gryphon. At this point, Gena is too hysterical to attempt any kind of escape.
There's a slight lurch as the gryphon takes flight, soaring almost straight up into the sky. Soon they come upon a group of Nagrand's ubiquitous floating islands. They land on one with a gnarled tree growing out of it. The warrior dismounts from the gryphon and looks around briefly. Apparently satisfied, he lifts Gena off the gryphon's back and turns toward the tree as Vykk lands next to him.
With a mighty heave, he hurls Gena at the tree with bone-crushing force. Her body slams into the tree, causing its branches to shake briefly. A few leaves flutter to the ground lazily as her battered body flops onto the grass. Then there is nothing but silence, punctuated by Gena's quiet sobs.
"Tell anyone and we won't stop at a mere roughing up next time," he says as he gently strokes her cheek.
Vykk begins walking towards his gryphon, flicking a hand negligently in Gena's direction. Gena wonders at the gesture until the invisible hammer slams into her head, this time sending her to oblivion.
Gena walks in Nagrand, fully equipped with armor and weapons. The grass strokes her ankles softly, a sensation she would enjoy if her purpose was one other than murder.
Sure enough, she comes upon a Kurenai weeping on the ground. The Kurenai's clothes are ripped almost to shreds. Ceasing her sobbing for a moment, she looks up as Gena approaches. The eyes of her tear-soaked face widen as she hurriedly covers herself with her arms. She looks at Gena with the utmost fear and cowers before her. Bruises are plentiful on her exposed skin, but not the face.
Sighing, Gena says, "Do not worry, I am also Kurenai."
The Kurenai's fear turns to embarrassment as she looks down her body. Gena throws her a blanket from her pack, eliciting a small smile from the Kurenai. The Kurenai gets up with the blanket carefully wrapped around her and begins walking towards Telaar.
"Before you go, tell me which way they went," Gena requests.
The Kurenai stiffens for a moment and points. Seconds later, she drops her arm and walks hurriedly away from Gena, who to her mind is either crazy or has a death wish.
Gena grins malevolently and whispers to herself, "I will end you," before breaking into a trot in the indicated direction.
The elements tell Gena that he is close. Gena stops and turns herself into a ghost wolf, then proceeds to walk quietly in the grass on the side of the road. Soon she begins to hear two familiar voices up ahead.
"We should have done the same to the other one. She was much prettier," Vykk comments.
"That she was," the warrior says ruefully.
Gena gets slightly ahead of them, and then shifts back to her true form under cover of a bush. Suddenly, the warrior stops in his tracks, placing a hand on Vykk's chest.
"I heard something," the warrior whispers.
Grinning evilly, Gena charges a lightning bolt and hurls it at the warrior's face. His mouth drops open beneath his helmet as the lightning bolt surges through it. His left eye explodes into jelly and the rest of his body is wracked by violent convulsions before he falls to the ground.
Gena charges another lightning bolt and lets it fly at Vykk, but he brings up his shield just in time to deflect it. He gestures at the source of the lightning with a hand and is rewarded with a loud crack as his hammer of justice finds a mark. Smiling victoriously, he walks confidently into the brush. He comes upon the shattered remains of a grounding totem and stares at it for a moment, completely bewildered.
"Hello, Vykk. Remember me?" Gena asks with an edge of steel to her voice.
Vykk hurriedly turns around, and then bends forward as Gena's mace delivers a crushing impact to his stomach. He straightens, his eyes closed in pain, and then he feels Gena's mace smash against his back. His face slams into the dirt and he lies there for a moment. Gena turns him over with one of her hooves and looks at him thoughtfully.
"You shouldn't have done that to me," she says flatly.
"Done what? Who the fel are you?" Vykk asks fearfully.
Gena removes her helmet and drops it on the ground as Vykk's eyes widen in realization.
"You!" he shouts.
"Yes...me. I just came from a rather disheveled Kurenai down the road," Gena states.
Vykk grins devilishly and says, "She was much more submissive than you. Quite enjoyable."
Gena growls low in her throat before slamming her mace into his leg. The stab of pain goes immediately from his broken femur and explodes in his brain, rendering him momentarily blind.
"How does it feel?" Gena yells.
Her hateful stare breaks off for a moment as she turns her head to the warrior, who is beginning to stir. Vykk's temporarily hampered vision is dazzled by a bright orange glow as Gena summons a fire elemental.
"Go get him," she tells the elemental.
The elemental raises its hand and hurls a fire blast at the warrior, who shrieks in pain. Then the elemental floats over and lays its hands on the warrior. The warrior screams himself hoarse as his armor melts into his skin. The elemental raises its hands as blue blood and pus seeps from the warrior's bubbling skin. His breath comes out in ragged gasps as he somehow clings to life. The elemental raises one hand over the warrior's chest. It launches a fireball that melts straight through his armor and explodes his heart, leaving his chest a black crater.
Gena smiles at the elemental, "Good work."
After extinguishing the elemental, Gena turns back to Vykk.
"Get up!" Gena orders.
Grimacing with pain, Vykk complies. His broken leg is completely numb now, but his other injuries continue to throb.
"Take off your armor," Gena commands.
Vykk meekly tosses his armor to the ground and stares at it.
Gena's gauntleted hand slams into his face and his eyes roll up as he crumples to the ground unconscious.
"Tsk, tsk. We can't have that," Gena says playfully as she innervates him with a lightning bolt to the chest.
Vykk's eyes flutter open and he winces in pain.
"Please, not the face," he pleads.
"Okay," Gena agrees.
She throws down her gauntlets along with the rest of her armor. She moves over to straddle Vykk and his eyes sparkle for a moment with hope. He huffs as she punches him in the stomach. Her face remains oddly blank as she pounds his chest repeatedly. After a few moments, her eyes begin to well up with tears as her blows become more frantic. She brings her hands up to cover her face and sobs into them. Moments later, she lowers her hands and sniffs. She stands up gingerly and steps back from Vykk.
"You will never again touch a Kurenai. Is that clear?" she asks through clenched teeth.
Vykk nods and cautiously levers himself up into a sitting position.
"Good," she says mechanically.
Gena quickly dons her armor and steps back to Vykk. Stars explode in his head as she slams her hoof viciously into his crotch.
"Now you won't even touch a Draenei," Gena says viciously before walking away down the road to Telaar.
Gena stands victoriously over the warrior's body, exulting in the carnage. The smells of burned flesh and seeping blood combine to create an acrid stench. At that moment, however, the scent causes Gena's heart to flutter with unrequited joy. She looks down at the blackened hole in the warrior's chest and begins giggling uncontrollably.
"Holy fire!" she shouts manically.
Her giggling eventually subsides, to be replaced with contemplative silence. Gena eyes the body up and down, searching for a trophy. She looks hopefully at the facial tentacles, but dismisses them because they would wither.
"Not the face indeed," she mutters.
Her eyes brighten as they reach his hooves. Rummaging through the warrior's possessions, she finds a serrated axe. Satisfied with its strength and sharpness, she happily proceeds with the grisly task of sawing off both hooves. Once finished, she uses a small dagger to gouge out any remaining flesh on the hooves. She washes the hooves with the remains of her canteen. Then, tossing the hooves in her pack, she heads to the nearest smithy. Local scavengers dispose of the carcass in short order.
Upon arrival, she borrows the equipment necessary and begins burrowing a large hole through each hoof. An hour or so later, she blows on each hoof to clear any remaining dust or residue. Experimentally, she slides one onto her wrist. She grins in delight and dons the other as well. She holds up her arms to admire her handiwork, the sun glinting off each polished hoof.
Smirking, she says, "Now...to make them green."
Gena wakes to the sound of stampeding hooves. Still half-awake, she reaches for her mace. Overextending a bit, she falls out of bed and hits the floor face-first.
"Not the face..." Gena says, sighing.
The noises ceases right outside her home. Gena narrows her eyes and looks at the entrance warily, her hand crackling with lightning. Four Aldor outriders step over the threshold. Her eyes widen in surprise and she dissipates her lightning.
"You are Iaphagena of Telaar?" the leader asks.
"Yes..." Gena answers tentatively.
"We need to question you about the death of Jarik Loso," the leader explains.
"Who?" Gena asks.
"We have an eyewitness account that you were responsible for his death. You..." he pauses, looking at his notes, "burned out his heart and took his hooves as a trophy. Rather grisly for a Kurenai."
Gena's eyes narrow and her fist balls in anger.
"He deserved it," she says coldly.
"Whether he deserved it or not isn't the issue here. He was brutally murdered by someone outside the law," the leader explains.
"They left bruises all over my body and broke my leg. And I came upon another victim of theirs who had her clothes shredded," Gena retorts.
"Yes, we've spoken to her and she remembers nothing. There is also no proof of your injuries," the leader points out.
"I'm a shaman and it has been over a week since the incident," Gena explains condescendingly.
"Yes, well, he came to us with his injuries and his tale of ambush. Also, he is a Draenei rather than..." the leader trails off.
"A Kurenai?" Gena asks hotly.
The leader looks down at his boots before asking, "Did you indeed kill Jarik Loso?"
"Yes, and my only regret is that I didn't finish off his sniveling friend," Gena replies.
"Then I'm afraid you'll have to come with us," the leader says sadly.
"No," Gena states flatly.
Gena's hands are a blur as she summons an earth elemental and a searing totem before stepping back for a moment. After a few seconds of utter chaos, Gena dashes out of her home. Pausing for a couple seconds, she transforms herself into a ghost wolf and dashes off into the night.
Gena skulks around the Lower City, her face shrouded in cloth. Her eyes shift constantly as she idly munches some golden fish sticks. As she walks past various merchants, she sees something that makes her do a double take. The fish sticks fall to the ground as Gena stands transfixed. She gropes at her hip for a weapon that isn't there as Vykk Draygo walks by.
Narrowing her eyes, her hand begins to crackle with electricity. She rips off her shroud and yells a challenge. As Vykk turns to look at her, his eyes widen in recognition. Before he can react, Gena's lightning bolt slams into his chest. He's thrown backward into the wall with bone-crushing force. As he hits, his neck snaps back and a loud crack announces the shattering of his skull. He collapses to the ground unconscious, a pool of blood growing around his head.
Sounds of disgust and astonishment erupt from the Lower City's cowering denizens as Gena grins triumphantly. She walks calmly up to Vykk's body and sends a flame shock into his chest, leaving a crater similar to the one left in Jarik Loso's chest. She removes the bracers made from Jarik's hooves and places them carefully on the mass of burned flesh. She then summons her gryphon and takes flight.
She lands shortly thereafter on the Aldor tier. Many gape at her, recognizing her from the wanted posters. She stares them down one by one and begins calmly removing the wanted posters. Aldor guards regard her warily, but take no action to stop her. She keeps one and incinerates the others. She eyes it, appreciating the talent of the sketch artist.
"The body is done horribly, but not the face. That's captured perfectly," she observes.
Frowning, she turns to look down at her butt. Her frown deepens as she realizes it IS that big.