Chapter 4: Till death do us part
Off duty, I spent my time often in pubs, but not the pub Nythenia was working at, I wasn't allowed to get any alcohol in that pub, 'cause I screwed up. But a fair amount of my gold was exchanged for alcohol and I had a habit of getting drunk. I was always loud and rude, to the point where I would've gotten thrown out for the night. Unless I was completely smashed, I would just lie on the table as I would fall asleep. I recall I was carried home in the arms of Seldryn, far too many times. More and more I started to notice I wasn't even allowed to hang out in the pub on my own anymore. He was always by my side, where-ever I went. He had his reasons, to keep me away from other men and harm. I was some piece of work for him.
As for Nythenia, I never told her what I did to earn money. I didn't want to taint her innocent mind with my dirty 'job', I didn't want to give her any ideas... But it seemed that she was having some major troubles with her relationship with Delandr. Out of the blue she was brought to my front door, by a big elf with white hair. Valith was his name (I think they're a cute couple). I heard her ex, Delandr, talking about some wedding when I was wandering around the city. It was all my fault that Valith nearly died, giving Nythenia the idea to murder Delandr (Sorry Valith). I could have just recommended her to hire Ralxo to kill him in one go, I'm not the smartest person, you see. But hey, I pushed her into dating Valith and it worked out pretty well.
One day Seldryn and I finished a mission and started hitting the pub. As we were on our first drink, Seldryn wanted to lift up his feet onto the table. He was wearing big heavy plate boots "Would you pull them off for me?" He asked me. "Sure thing!" I said without thinking twice and I unclipped the first boot, trying to pull it off. It was kind of stuck and so I had to pull harder. We should have thought twice, before pulling off a plate boot over the table. The boot shot off and sent me back onto my seet that would have fallen down but the bar behind it stopped it and caused to bounce back. The boot had literally crushed my ribs. Ouch, I can still imagine the pain I had. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Seldryn, with guilt smeared all over his stupid face, was just staring down at me and shouted for a medic. There were two other humans in the pub, drinking at the bar. One had a baby in her arm. Like, really? You go to the pub with a baby? Of course, their conversations made it obvious they were lesbians and even worse, they looked down at little Reirei who was crying in pain and told me to 'shut the fuck up and get over it'.
If I hadn't broken my rib, I would've given her a broken rib to show her how it felt! You don't just simply get over a broken rib. What the actual fuck? Anyway... Seldryn had caught attention from a vindicator that was outside. What was her name again? Xirul? Xivl? Xuvl? I can't remember, it has been way too long! Anyhow, I saw a draenei walk up to me, her hooves clicked over the wooden floorboards. She spoke to me, with a thick draenei accent, "Vere are yu hurt?" Seldryn gestured towards my ribs. "Ve need to take ov your top." The vindicator said, so she could start to heal me. Seldryn ripped the front of my expensive leather tunic off (Thanks Seldryn!), so she could start to heal me. Oh dear, the crying and screaming I did, it still echoes through my head. "Be ztill" she told me as her hands started to lighten up.
After all that was done and my ribs were healed into place, I was able to sit up again. Although I needed to get a new tunic (pout). Every now and then the draenei checked up on me as she would see me in the city. She was very friendly. Now I feel bad for forgetting her name.
After that incident, Seldryn apologized and said that the brutish lifestyle just wasn't his fitting class anymore. He also told me he felt really bad watching me cry in pain on the ground. So he then decided to learn the arts of restoration magic. I didn't admit I was happy about his disicion, I always hated the plate armour around the house. So he searched for someone to teach him, I was searching someone for my next paycheck. Looking back at what I did, I feel terrible, I was such a horrible girlfriend. He completely changed his profession for me and spent a lot of time and energy praticing the arts of healing magic purely for my benefit. And all he was rewarded with, was an unloyal girlfriend. I'm sorry Seldryn. I hadn't realised what I was pulling you through.
One day, as he was walking home, he saw me entering a strange house. Of course, he was aware what was about to happen. And yes, for the hundredth time, I was stupid and closed-minded! And well, stuff happened, you know. Clothes came off and I got to it. Before I knew it, Seldryn was standing at the doorframe with the most furious look on his face. He looked like he could blow out smoke from his nostrils. He had no problem dragging the human dude out off the bed and I didn't do anything. I wrapped the blanket around me and gazed upon Seldryn as he was smashing into the skull of the man. His face was completely mutilated. After Seldryn was done overkilling the dude, he looked at me with the most disappointing expression on his face, visibly in emotional pain. He walked out without saying a word, he was obviously pissed (Duuh). I followed him after I grabbed all the gold the guy had on him. He wouldn't have been needing that anymore anyway.
I know what I did was wrong, but me back then didn't. I thought I was helping to pay the taxes. But one day, Seldryn snapped. "If you're not going to change, Reiylah, I'm out!" He said, providing me with an ultimatum. "Alright, alright.." I said, as if I was annoyed. "I just did it for the sake of this relationship..." I said, I wasn't sure where I was going with that. Seldryn looked unconvinced at me and sighed. He had a pleading look to his face, clinging onto hope that I could change. "Don't worry about the money, I'll take care of it." He said as he wrapped me up in his arms.
Trust me, I did try my best to start denying offers from my 'clients'. Actually, things were going fine! But Seldryn didn't leave me alone for just one second. Where-ever I went, he went too. I also dropped the habit of drinking too much. Eventually, he noticed how hard I was trying to change for the relationship and we decided to marry. I remember I showed off my ring to Nythenia.
My marriage with Seldryn was going great. Moltenhands signed us up for a mission to head to the Silverpine Forests. There was a mine that needed to be investigated, as he heard rumors there was something going on there, that could threaten the Alliance.
I'll cut to the chase here, the traveling was kind of boring. We entered the mines, it reeked of death and rotten flesh. I was thrilled with adrenaline as we ventured further into the mines. But we found ourselves surrounded by a bunch of undead. "I'll take these, you'll take those." Seldryn said as he gestured towards the Forsaken. We managed to disassemble most of them but as I was trying to pull out my dagger that was stuck in one of the corpses. I was struck as I let my guard down. The forsaken laughed maniacally as blood was gushing out between my shoulderblades. I started to feel extremely dizzy and lightheaded. "No!" I heard Seldryn yell behind me as he held me in a cradled position, preventing me from falling to the ground. The last thing I remember was looking into his face, that was covered in tears. What happened after that, I don't know. I didn't want to ask Seldryn about it either.
I thought I was dead, until I opened my eyes. I was lying in a Cemetery, looking at a Valkyr. So far, I gathered I was brought back to.. the dead. Living dead. I was about to cry, but I didn't even produce a single tear. My heart wasn't even beating. It was strange, I couldn't even feel anything. The flesh on my body was as white as snow and it looked like it was prepared to rot. My eyes used to glow as a Kaldorei, but as I was now a part of the Forsaken, there was no spark of light left. Apparently, I had duties. I was forced to join the Forsaken Army, assisting the Horde. I was told to patrol a town in Silverpine Forest, it was called the Forsaken Front. It was close to where I died. Sounds weird to say it like that, but it was true.
Every moment was agonizing, even though I had no feelings. I've never found myself so emotionless. I hadn't forgotten about Seldryn for a mere second. As a Forsaken, I was unhappy. I met another Forsaken, his name was Fredrick. He told me, it is how it is. I had become a servant to the Horde and I had to obey orders I really didn't want to do. Fredrick showed me around the place before I had to patrol. I had no other option but obey orders and patrol as I was told to. It gave me a bit of hope to find an escape of the Horde.
Weeks past, bits and pieces of my flesh was literally shed off, my bones were sticking out. I felt ugly, very ugly. I was on patrol, but nothing would ever happen. What was the point? I don't know. I had no goals in 'life', and I definitely didn't want to serve the Horde. It got to the point where I would just sit on the grass and peer about, instead of fanatically racing around the place like a dog barking to protect its territory. The only question that never left my mind, Where was Seldryn?
My question was answered later that week, as I saw two figures in the distance, strolling over the path. I kept my distance, I wanted to observe them from a far. As they got closer, I thought my eyes were lying to me, but it was true. I saw Seldryn and Ralxo approaching! If I had a heart, it would've been bouncing like a bouncy ball. I followed them to a place not far from the Front. They set up a camp tucked away in the mountains. I decided to show myself, but my helmet was hiding my biggest smile. To them, I looked like some kind of Forsaken Assassin, there to assault them.
Seldryn charged towards me and swung his sword in my direction, which I narrowly dodged, causing my helmet to unbuckle and fall to the ground. Without hesitation he went to strike me again, yet his attack was blocked by Ralxo's blade. Ralxo was aware of who I was, as he recognised me and told Seldryn. Seldryn was rather ignorant and didn't believe it was me. In anger he lashed out to Ralxo. It was short lived, as Ralxo managed to defend himself against Seldryn's attack and knocked some sense into him. Seldryn paused and payed closer attention to me as I was standing there. It dawned upon him, that it was me. Within mere seconds his hostile posture was neutralized and he shot over to embrace me. "Is there anything we can do?" He asked to Ralxo. He mentioned that there was something they could do, which regarded Ralxo summoning an 'old buddy'. Seldryn didn't give it a second thought and without hesitation he accepted Ralxo's offer.
Ralxo played around with some dark magic, by the looks of it, and summoned forth a demon. I forgot to mention, Ralxo is over ten-thousand years old and he's been places. The demon looked between the three, ending his gaze at Ralxo. Ralxo simply waved, as if it was a casual thing. The demon sighed and bellowed. "What do you need me for, this time." The demon said in annoyance "Have you forgot our most recent arrangements?" Ralxo shook his head and said he'll take care of it. He then gestured towards me and asked if he can provide us with assistance. The demon then replied with "No. Unless you're going to sacrifice something in return." I was intimidated by that demon, that's for sure. Seldryn made the offer, willing to lose his hand, paying with blood. The demon eyed him up and down before nodding in agreement. Seldryn offered his right hand, holding it out towards the demon. Yet, the demon rejected the hand and claimed he wanted the other hand, as that would be the one he wanted to keep. They all agreed on this sacrifice and went forward with the idea. Seldryn's left hand started to disassmble as green and black fel magic wrapped around it. After a lot of screaming in pain, I felt really sorry for him and partly regretted the idea. I was afraid I forced him into doing that, but in fact, that was what Seldryn chose. After Seldryn stood there, without a left hand, my body started to become wrapped in green light. My flesh seemed like it crawled back and returned to a purple colour. My bones were covered once more. My eyes glowed brighter than ever and my voice returned to what it used to be. My nerves were connected again and I could feel. But the thing I noticed the most, was the sudden pulse in my chest. My heart revived in a sudden beat. I admit, it didn't feel good at all, as I suddenly was, quite literally, refilled with blood, that my heart pumped around. As the fel magic started to retreat, I felt Seldryn's arms wrapped around me tighter than ever.
Ralxo looked at the demon and said "It's a shame you can't do anything about his looks." The demon just sighed and was about to disappear in thin air "Don't forget to bring cheese next time!" He shouted.
After all that dealing with the demon was done, we headed back home. Seldryn told me, he came back for revenge. He didn't expect me to still be alive. It broke his heart when he realised I had turned undead. But things happened, he was happy that I was back home. If you ask me, it was like a few weeks in hell.
As for Seldryn's missing hand, it was replaced by a mechanical hand that was installed onto his arm by a Gnomish Mechanicer. Moltenhands was relieved that I had returned, although he didn't ask how (I'm happy he didn't). He gave me a raise and a holiday off.
You have no idea how badly I wanted to tell Nythenia about what happened. Her reaction was mixed, she wasn't sure if I was on drugs or if I actually was dead serious with her. But to prove her it was all true, I showed her Seldryn's mechanical hand. Yes yes, it was real alright.
This makes me realise how much Seldryn has done for me. Seldryn, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry! I'm happy you still put up with me.
