Hello again people it's time for another chapter. It seems our character just isn't having a wonderful time in Darkshore and it may just get worse. I've had some odd things happen during writing this and it annoys me. Of course things aren't all nicey nicey sunshine and rainbows which is what I feel like when I write this story, however there may be nice moments in the future….Oops said too much. Read to find out what happens and review it…OR I WILL DESTROY YOU!! Ahem…I mean not be as pleasant and gain the dreaded writer's block. On to the Disclaimer! Take it away creepy author (Did I just insult myself?)
Disclaimer: The author owns NOTHING! NADA! ZIPPO! ZILCH! YA GOT THAT?!
WST: I AM THE AUTHOR NOT YOU!
WST A: But I'm a lovely little voice inside that head of yours.
WST: …ok. NOW ONTO THE STORY!
WST A: Finally!
WST: SILENCE!! (Dear god I'm going crazy!!)
'Dream' 'Thinking' "Talking" c(.c) KIRBY
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Chapter 3: Sweet Nightmares
Shinrei walked up the rest of the stairs, shoulders hunched over and eyes focused on his feet which seemed to feel heavier than they actually were. Truth be told his body didn't feel tired. but his body seemed to weigh him down and make every one of his movement's sluggish and lethargic.
As he reached the top the first thing he realized was the stench of alcohol and from what he smelled a lot of it. He looked around and set eyes on the source, a gnome surrounded by bottles of what seemed to be various alcoholic beverages ranging from Cheap Beer to Darkmoon Special Reserve.
The gnome hiccupped and looked over in his direction, "Whatsh wish all ya elsh's up 'ere? Dish room ish good fer abou' tree hic peohicplesh not five of ya. Unlesh you's guys be sharing beds?"
If Shinrei had been in a normal situation he would have laughed but all he could do was wrinkle his nose at the stench and walk over to one of the three beds in the room, quickly undress to his night clothes, and lay down beneath the thick comforter.
The gnome just sat there watching him, all the while consuming more alcohol then should have been possible and muttered, "Shure jush ignore me, elf tinksh he better den myself. Tall peoplesh dey don't worry 'bout ush jush ignore ush cause they'sh tall." He went off grumbling for a few more minutes before passing into alcohol induced slumber.
The day's events still fresh in his mind, he tried to get comfortable and get some sleep but to no avail. He lay there on his back staring at the ceiling until the inevitable feeling of sleep began to creep into his mind. His eyelids slowly closed and darkness washed over his vision sending him into the world of slumber.
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It was dark. A void of despair that seemed to go on for eternity and threatened to swallow him.
He could not hear. He could not see. But he could feel and what he felt has far crueler than any torture. An unnatural force blew a wind that made his blood freeze in his veins and every breath felt as if thousands of nails raked the inside of his chest. The wind itself was not at all cold but what it brought with it was colder than the winds that blew across the icy plains of Northrend. The cruel wind brought with it an icy dagger of sorrow, fear, and despair that clawed at the very depths of his mind and horrid memories flashed before his eyes.
As soon as it had come it had gone and darkness took him again once more. He wished it to be the end but it was not to be.
A new scene unfurled in front of him, his senses were assaulted with colors, smells, and sounds, and with it came a feeling of serenity and peace. The dark stormy sky was unmistakable, he was in Darkshore, or to be more precise he was in Auberdine. There was no smell of fire, burnt flesh, blood, or death, only the peaceful port town.
Sentinels stood at their posts, statues with stony faces and kind eyes. A few couples walked down the side of the road hand in hand, whispering sweet nothings to one another with no cares in the world. Merchants called out to people of all shapes and sizes about their wares, the people, ranged from mostly Night Elves, and Dwarves, though there was the occasional Gnome and even High Elf.
Laughter rang out and he turned to find a small child running down the road, a smile on her face as she looked back and called out, "Mama! Come on, we'll be late for dinner!" A beautiful Kaldorei female walked onto the scene and she merely shook her head and let out a beautiful laugh that reminded Shinrei of his own mother, "Do not be so impatient Kaylai. We shall be home soon enough."
The town was so peaceful and even the dark sky seemed brighter though the sun was setting and the sky had grown darker. However, he did not feel the way the town appeared. Cold reality slapped him in the face and he realized that this was the town some time before disaster struck it.
With this realization he tried to call out and warn those who had no idea of what would befall them, but as he tried to call out in warning his cries fell on deaf ears.
'They can't hear me' he thought. He ran up to a guard and tried to warn her, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder, only to have his hand go right through it with no resistance and the guard still stone faced with no indication that she had felt or heard anything.
The sky darkened even further as the last rays of light began to die and an unnatural wind blew from behind him and with it came cold cruel, sorrow, fear, and despair. He whipped his head in the direction from where it came and his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him.
A hooded figure hunched over in the saddle of a mount as black as night. The figure, while giving off its own menacing aura was not what caught his attention. The horse, if it could even be called that, seemed to be a spawn of the darkest nightmare. It's mane and hooves were wreathed in demonic hellfire and with each breath it's nostrils flared with embers and from the mouth came clouds of black putrid smoke. All of this added to the already nightmarish appearance of the creature with it's armor of spikes protruding from the plates on the head and chest.
The figure seemed to straighten in the saddle and with rotting hands that protruded from the ends of the sleeves of a magnificent black robe, the figure removed it's hood to reveal the face of an undead male from what it appeared to be.
The undead had little of what could be called a face in the terms of skin for the skin of his face was maggot eaten, his black teeth jutted out at odd angles in a grim smile, and were visible through the holes in his rotted cheeks. His wiry black hair hung in tendrils randomly about his head as if most of it had been pulled out and slung upon his back was a staff with a horned skull that was situated upon the head of the staff with the mouth wide open and an unnatural blue glow surrounded the skull.
The undead raised his hands towards the heavens as if in prayer and they glowed with powerful shadow magic around a green stone clasped in his right hand.
Without warning a meteor wreathed in green flames fell from the sky and crashed into the ground sending earth and debris everywhere, along with two unlucky sentinels who were
caught in the blast. They were sent flying with a scream, but were silenced quickly as they were slammed against the side of a house with a sickening crunch.
As soon as the meteor impacted all hell broke loose. Panic spread among the townsfolk and they all ran and shoved each other in a desperate attempt to get away from what had happened.
From the crater arose a demon of stone and fire, with pulsing green flames in the sockets of its eyes and the center of its chest. With a roar of fury it surged forward towards the sentinels that responded to the threat to their home and soon an all out battle began against the Infernal and the sentinels of Auberdine.
The demon, though powerful, did more damage to the surrounding area than to the quick and agile sentinels that were able to maneuver around the Infernal with ease and out of it's reach. Though the sentinels seemed to have the advantage over the Infernal, three seemed to get overconfident and went in to attack only to be burned by flames that erupted about it.
Dazed by the flames, they made easy targets and with a swing of its fiery fists it sent two to their deaths. The third had fallen over as she had tried to run away in fear and Shinrei had to close his eyes and look away as it brought its foot down upon her. With a savage cry of seeing their fallen sisters the Sentinels surged forward.
Though the fight was right in front of him, Shinrei turned back to the undead and watched as it flew past the sentinels in their battle with the Infernal and towards the fleeing innocents. Flames danced across it's hands as it brought down a rain of fire upon those unlucky enough not to get away from it in time. Wisps of shadow magic spiraled around it's fingertips as it spoke in a vile language and it threw curses and dark magic's upon those who were running away.
One by one people succumbed to unnatural maladies that had been cast upon them. A woman, that Shinrei recognized as the one he saw from yesterday let out a shriek as pain spread throughout her body as she convulsed and she clawed at her own arms as if in an attempt to get rid of something that was beneath her skin. Her mate, a young Kaldorei, could only watch in horror as the curse overcame her and she fell backwards to the ground with eyes wide open and face contorted in pain. He let out a cry of anguish, which was quickly short lived as his entire body erupted into flames that burned him from the inside out and he fell forward across the body of his mate.
All around Shinrei people cried out in pain and agony as they succumbed to the Warlock's magic. Houses burst into flames in brilliant displays and spread quickly throughout the town casting shadows across everything. As the flames and shadows flickered, he saw grotesque figures that cackled and danced with glee at the suffering of the small unsuspecting village.
He wanted it to end.
He didn't want to see it.
He couldn't take anymore of it and he tried to run away from it all, only to have flames shoot up before him. They closed in and forced him back to the scenes of death he had tried to leave and he cried out, "No! Please, no more!" Hands of fire grabbed at him and he heard voices screaming as he struggled to get away.
"N-no! NO…NO!!" he shot up in his bed with a start and was breathing heavily as if he had run for miles without stop. He sat against the headboard and brought his knees to his chest so he could rest his head on them as he repeated to himself, "It's just a dream. Just a dream."
As he repeated the mantra he hadn't realized that he had been crying and didn't know when he had started to cry. He looked over to the gnome that had been in the room drinking and saw that he was half lying on the floor with his head on the floor, his feet barely on the bed for he was so short, and he was tangled up in a nest of sheets and blankets. The gnome was snoring loudly from his alcohol induced stupor and it appeared that he wouldn't wake up even if Shinrei had yelled in his ear.
He stared at the gnome and couldn't help but laugh, though it sounded more like a cross between a sob and a rasping wheeze. He was just trying to distract himself from the nightmare he had and right now a drunken gnome that looked incredibly stupid was just the thing.
He decided to think back on the training that he had done back in Teldrassil and remembered the meditation training with Master Strongoak in the Shadowglen. He decided to lie back down and meditate to help him sleep.
Slowly he cleared his mind and focused on the small clearing he had meditated in for his training. He retreated far into his mind from the outside world and as his breathing slowed he drifted back into the world of slumber far from dreams and nightmares.
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Sorry that took so long, but I kinda am slow on the updates. Anyways here's an explanation for the chapter in case some of you are like (my explanation I remind you), "Is he some kinda psychic or whatever to see all that stuff?" Druids are very close to the earth and realm of dreams and when they sleep they I guess you could say are somewhat more open to it. The dream or nightmare was not actually Shinrei's, but actually more of the peoples of Auberdines dream. He was more like an observer to a show (a very scary show). . Now normally when a druid sleeps he is focused on his dream, yet when he sleeps and he is more open to the realm of dreaming and when there is such a strong concentration of I guess you could say the same
dream and emotions (very very powerful dream and emotions), he may get pulled into it like for example gravity pulling something to the ground. However unlike gravity it can be resisted (without the need to use rockets), but as Shinrei is only in his 10th rank of training (lvl 10) he is inexperienced and has to meditate and concentrate to cut himself off. Picture yourself sitting on a fence, (not with barbed wire that hurts like hell, WST A: "When did…" WST: "Don't ask!") you can fall to either side, into your own yard or into someone entirely else's yard. For normal people they are entirely on one side, their own, yet for people like druids they (with either concentration or being pulled into it) can cross that line or block it off.
