The rough dirt scrapped Ashley's bare feet as she stumbled up the steep hill. Her knees were raw, and her palms were covered in dirty blood. It had been weeks since she had lost her shoes. She cradled her large belly as she stumbled again and finally sat down. She was too tired to keep going. The crack of thunder vibrated in her delicately pointed ears, and she cursed the sky. No one wanted her to do this. Her own family had stood against her. But she didn't care. She would find a new home, and with her baby start a new family. She smiled sadly as she thought about the future of her ill begotten child. Fatherless, and a future of ridicule and condensation if not outright aggression awaited him. She rubbed her belly gently. "Don't ever let anyone get the best of you." She started to get to her feet when she suddenly felt eyes on her. Quickly turning her head back and forth, she didn't see anything but dirt, rocks, trees, and the sky above. Shaking the feeling off, it was probably just nerves getting to her. She glanced up at the raging sky and frowned, she needed to find some shelter soon. Standing up again, the first drop of rain hit her forehead as another angry lightning bolt webbed across the sky. She thought about the baby's father, in his last moments in this realm, his angry eyes, vicious motions, and cruel treatment of her. She clenched her teeth and vowed that her baby would not follow the path of his father. She took one step and screamed as she felt her thighs bathed in moisture. She doubled over and held her middle. She had run out of time. Falling to her knees, she felt as if she were splitting as her body convulsed with shocking mind blistering pain.
Three sets of dead eyes watched as the girl shouted and rolled to her back. The grins grew on their decaying faces filled with malice. "Dinner is ready." The cackles were dry and wheezy as they began moving closer. The smell of pain and blood grew heavy in their nostrils as they neared, standing over the girl, cloaked in their shrouds of magical transparency. They quickly dropped their spells and smiled cruelly down on the shocked eyes. Her panic was delicious, and they laughed harder at her screams. Not willing to wait any longer, the forsaken knelt and sank their teeth into her flesh. The blood was filled with fear and terror which marinated the meat.
As the last bit of exposed flesh was torn clean from the bone, thin fingers grabbed at her crimson stained clothes and tore them from her. The three began tearing larger chunks of meat from her twitching body, slower now that their initial hunger was sated. All three heads rose at the sudden sound of crying. They glanced at the girl's empty eyes confused. The cries were younger, infantile, and they moved between her legs to find a newborn baby. They all clapped their hands, but as the babe glanced at them they froze. There were curved horns crowning the soaked head, and tiny wings that moved and stretched. They had never seen this before. They never even heard of this before. It was as if the child were part fel being. They glanced momentarily back to the dead girl, and then to the child. His tiny hands balled to fists as the forsaken stared, their gaze stuck on him. The sound of hooves wasn't enough to draw their eyes away, until it was right over them. The flash of steel quickly separated their heads at the neck, and three sets of eyes rolled back to the child.
"Looks like we were too late." A man in the armor befitting a captain's rank dismounted his horse and stepped on the three heads rolling on the ground, their skulls crushing like egg shells. He glanced back to the human woman who was still on her mount. "What were they looking at?" The captain shrugged and knelt down slowly. He jumped backwards, sitting on the ground and clawing his way away from the bodies. "There's a babe here! It looks like the offspring of demon and blood elf." The woman held out a hand as the man regained his composure and prepared to smash the baby with his shiny boot. "That won't be necessary. Bring the child to me." The man glanced back, "Lady Jaina, this is a demon. He needs to be dealt with." The woman snarled back, "He will be, but whatever he is, he is half civil as well, and it is with that in mind that I would like to attempt to cultivate that." The captain grudgingly lifted the child in one hand and wrapped him in his cloak before handing him over. Jaina lifted the child and smiled warmly. "I will call you Calcepher. I am Jaina." He small boy wiggled and wrapped a tiny hand around her finger.
"If you girl's don't start behaving, you might just run into Jaina's personal guard. I'm sure you've all heard the stories about Calcepher's temper." The headmistress snapped her fingers and every girl stood straighter. Jenny smiled, "I don't think we'll even see any of Jaina's personal guards, much less Calcepher." She elbowed the girl next to her, "Besides, I heard he was in the cells below us for drinking all the blood from that girl just outside these walls. She was a noble, and we're nothing more than orphans." She got a few giggles before the headmistress scoffed and everyone grew silent. Jenny beamed her smile as they started walking again. She glanced at the beautiful paintings of the heroes of Stormwind, the last standing human city. It had been ten years since the scourge plagued the world again, and unified every civilized race and faction. Since then, Stormwind had been named the center of all Azeroth, and became the housing of the Unified Council of the Free Peoples of Azeroth. None of that really mattered too much to her. After all, she was just an orphan from a small town in Hillsbrad. After the wars, the entire world's social structure changed, and from the dusts of chaos rose a new legion called the Eternal Families, consisting of the noble lines of all the races. Jenny didn't belong to that line, and there was no chance of her rising up to that rank. Political power and sway didn't interest her anyways. She was much more at home singing in the choir, or spending time in Townships' gardens. "Ok girls, you'll be staying two to a room. I expect you to behave and not go wandering around. We are competing tomorrow against some of the best choirs so I expect all of you to take that in mind and get plenty of sleep." Jenny snickered. This city was larger than anything she'd ever seen built by man, she wasn't going to waste her one trip here to sleeping in her room.
The halls were lit by the flickering torch light, which cast long shadows across creepy paintings. Jenny crept beside the wall, gliding her palms across the cool surface. She had only worn her night gown, so if she were caught she could easily justify that she was sleepwalking, and the cool stones on her feet and back had her giddy. She froze in place, holding her breath as a guard passed by the end of the hall. As he disappeared around the corner, she sighed and started moving again. She passed by a rather large painting and paused to try and see who had such an honor as the light from a torch caught the canvas, and she shivered violently as Calcepher's blazing green eyes glared down at her. She shook her head, it was only a painting. She moved her face closer and saw something she hadn't expected to see. He had a grin on his face that was more joyful than she would have expected. Other than the massive horns that curled up from his head, and the dark membranous wings that were stretched to their full span, he was rather handsome. She smiled as she imagined what he was like, from the grin he might be just like her. He might be a man who enjoyed the simple things, and wasn't black hearted like everyone called him. She was sure most of the stories were just rumors anyways.
"What do you think you're doing?" She spun quickly, and found two forsaken standing behind her. They wore fine clothes, and mischievous smiles. "Are you lost little mouse? It's rather scary walking around here all by yourself." She shook her head, "No, I'm fine; I was just heading back to my room." The forsaken moved blocking her path and passed sly glances to each other. "Well, why not let us be your guides. We won't bite… much…" She squeaked as they laughed, and almost bolted when she felt an arm land across her shoulders.
"I've been looking all over for you. I told you not to go running around without me. This place is so big, it's no wonder you got lost." Jenny froze as she heard the smooth voice near her head. She didn't need to look over to see who it was. If there was one thing true about the stories, it was that he could turn a girl's legs to jelly just by speaking. If it weren't for the panic that rushed through her blood, she would have been swooning. "Excuse me, but we had this handled." The light in the torches brightened until there were no more shadows in the hallway. The two forsaken gasped and instantly bowed their heads. "Our apologies captain. We didn't see it was you." She heard the snicker, "I'm sure you didn't. Now, me and…" Jenny turned her head slightly as he paused and found herself staring right into the burning green eyes. She opened her mouth, but forgot her name. Half of her wanted to run and hide, the other half wanted to kiss him very badly. He was absolutely gorgeous; his skin was golden tan, and his features crisp and handsome. He was muscular for his size, and she could tell he could easily tear a man apart. She fought the urge to run her hands over the silk shirt and feel his chest. "Yours…" The warm laughter that filled the hall had her nerves turned to water, and she was terribly grateful he had an arm wrapped around her middle. "Alright then." He turned to the forsaken; who she had forgotten was there. "As you can see gentleman, I believe I have this under control." The two bowed and turned quickly moving down the other way.
Jenny watched him tuck his wings tightly against his back and offer his arm. She quickly hooked hers with his, in hopes that she wouldn't topple over, and they started to make their way towards her room. She opened her mouth several times, and snapped it shut when she realized she had nothing to say, with a click of her teeth. She regretted the sound, but it was unavoidable. As they neared her room, he stopped and turned her to face him. She caught sight of his full body for the first time and almost fell over. He was stunningly handsome, and his wings and horns only made her fell protected and awed. She had thought that they would be repulsive, but having seen him now, she couldn't imagine him without them. "Thank you…" He smiled and raised her hand to his lips. Gently pressing his lips against her skin, she had to hold onto the doorframe to keep from falling. "You never told me your name." She blushed and tried to hide her face. His fingers were on her chin lifting her eyes up to his. "I'm Calcepher Melkin. Captain of the First Ring guards." She smiled, "I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are." He smiled, and tilted his head towards her. "I'm Jenny Swan." She smiled as he bowed slightly. He opened his mouth to say something, but she quickly spoke before him. "I have to get some sleep; my choir is competing tomorrow morning!" She smiled once more at him before fumbling with the door knob, crashing into her room and slammed the door behind her.