Shattered Bones by Seagale
The
glades of Tirisfal are hardly inviting. The warm fire which was once
aflame in the inns is long since extinguished. Yet life endures after
death, and restless souls dwell in the darkness of this once
beautiful forest.
A cold night it
was, but for the dead it matters not. Only magic allows them to hear
the sounds coming from the horizon as waves clash into the rocks,
leaving the tranquility of the sea behind.
There she stood.
Cold bones, a skull with no eyes. Yet she gazed at the chilly sky
while the magic that enabled her to continue her damned existence
still endured.
Waiting.
A high cliff it
was, far above the cries of waves shattering as they meet the
unfriendly rocks beneath her. The plants on the secluded cliff were
as dead as she was, and the trees down the road were naught but
rotting piles of old, dead wood.
There she stood.
Cold daggers, a hand with no skin. Wind hit her bones, but her nerves
have died long ago, leaving her with nothing but blade and poison.
Waiting.
The wait was not
long. Four years since the invasion and two hours since the message.
Not much time for immortal victims of dreaded plague and cursed
blight.
She sat
at the edge of the cliff, thinking. Why now? Unlife in the dark city
was hard enough without the bitterness inflicted upon her by remnants
of her still living past.
From behind he
came. Past dying trees and tormented wildlife, if so it can be
called. A man. A living man, dressed in a great red robe with golden
accents. Not a sword did he carry, but a staff. A staff lined with
jewels which have not yet lost their strength to fight the forces of
evil. Yet he was not a fighter.
"Well met, my
love," he greeted her. "Too long it has been."
She rose and
turned her face towards him. He let out a loud gasp as he saw the
sockets her eyes once called home. "What have you become?" he
asked, horrified.
"Why have you
come, husband?" she prompted him. Why did he choose to disturb her
quiet unlife after so many months?
"I sent you
the message to meet me here as soon as I was informed of your... what
ever you choose to call it. Life, death, it matters not. You do not
deserve this fate," he explained.
"You left me
to the Scourge. Why should you care? The Dark Lady guides me now. I
am free," she rehearsed.
"Free?" he
chuckled. "Are you no longer subject to natural laws? Are you no
longer a part of this world?" he asked with contempt. "Tell me,
woman, if that is what you consider yourself to be, if I threw you
off the edge of this cliff, would your bones not shatter? Would you
not burn if I set you aflame? You are nothing but a rotting corpse
well past its due time," he concluded.
The undead have
been denied of the peace death promised, freeing them from the
plague.
Shifting her gaze
back to the ocean and away from her husband, she began to chant in an
attempt to convince herself he was wrong:
Sight is for
the blind
Hearing for the
deaf
My brain is not
my mind
Set
free by death.
A moment of
silence followed. While only a minute, it seemed as if time was
enjoying her torment and lingered on to listen. She broke the
silence:
"Are they
alive? Our son and daughters. Where are they?" she asked.
"All dead but
one. They, at least, have enough respect for this world to rot in
their graves!"
"Do you truly
think I have chosen to live like this?"
"Then why do
you insist on living?"
Even after she was
set free from the shackles that bound her as a
minion of the Scourge, she hadn't thought about dying a second time.
"I am free...
free..." she said, repeating it several times while watching the
water swirl in the ocean. Water she was no longer able to taste of
feel.
"You will
never understand!" she screamed. Her voice distorted as the magic
which enabled her to speak could not handle the volume of her shout.
"Why have you
come to torment me? This land seeks redemption, and so do the souls
you have forsaken," she uttered. Rage building within, her hand
started to move towards her dagger.
"I'm here to
help you," he said in quiet resolve.
"What?"
"Your torment
shall end for eternity, my love. Rest in peace."
Closing his eyes,
he took a step back. A fireball began amassing in his hands.
Her eyes, had they
existed, opened wide as she realized what was happening. The fireball
hit her, setting her cold flesh aflame. It pushed her beyond the edge
and onto the rocks below.
Her quiet descent
ended with a sharp noise as her lifeless bones shattered.
Yet there was no
one to hear her final thud, not an ear for her ending to fall on. He
was back in Ironforge by then, on his way to tell his young, living
daughter of her mother's final rest.
This is a very short story I wrote out of the blue. It's not the best but I hope someone would enjoy it.
