Straydog Saga
Flea 29: Secrets of Mydrassil Part 3: Enter the Dragons
The upper bough was in a state of a creeping silence. The once bustling lanes were void of anything but the occasional paper dancing in the quiet breeze. Bodyl and his mercenaries found themselves matching the atmosphere as tensions began to pull at their sore and strained muscles. The eerie glow of the tree's arcane branches created shadows that seemed to unnaturally dip and move as if of their own will. Bodyl quickly walked, eyes shifting from the area around them to his map and back again, as he led them through the shining streets toward their goal. After taking a few hard-to-find pathways, the group climbed a steep set of woven branches away from the trunk itself and into a tangled mass of skillfully crafted halls made from the branches themselves. The Pinnacle Bough's majesty loomed over the group like a stern parent looking about its shiftless children.
"According to the map, we're almost there…" Bodyl whispered over his shoulder as his quiet steps hastened.
"Something's not right…this is too easy." Christoffel mused out loud as his quick green eyes darted to the shadows. The fel orbs could not tell if what lurked within the great branches was friend, foe, or disturbed animal in the pre-morning glow. When they reached the thickly woven room at very top of the tree, a light akin to an arcane dawn met their tired vision.
Though the woven doorways to the inner chamber were usually locked shut, a small entrance seemed to shout for the group's attention. The great gem of Mydrassil did exist, and the small group found it hard to remain standing in its glorious glow. A few small figures toiled with the distant but vibrantly glowing gem with strained bodies to finish the emergency wards as the group moved forward. It was then the shadows began to shift.
"Look out!" Christoffel shouted as he shoved Shandori hard enough to knock them both to their knees. A great black bolt of energy pooled form the tiny spaces between the great branches and formed into a massive spear. An unseen hand sent the object with fatal force towards the warrior's head. When the pair looked up again, the shadow seemed to collapse in on itself and began to take another shape. When the tall shadow finished its second transformation, a tall, golden-eyed and indigo-skinned elf greeted them with a bitter smile.
"Hello again, my brother. It has been quite a while, hasn't it?" The elf spoke in a mockingly sweet tone. Bodyl's expression did not move to false niceties.
"You are no brother of mine, traitor. We've come to put an end to your foul ambitions and claim your weapon-gem in the name of the peoples of Azeroth!" Bodyl proclaimed. Lord Nightgaze looked to the mercenaries, who did not seem to question the assertion, with a snort before turning his vision back to his former brother in arms.
"I see, ever the crafter of fine tales… it matters little now. Your ilk has sealed their fates the moment they took up arms against the White Branch Initiative. You shall come no further." Lord Nightgaze closed his eyes with a sinister cackle as the very shadows of Mydrassil rose at his whim. The branches began to loose their leaves, as the earth-born entities began to break apart and form two strange beings of bark, branches, and wind. The strange elemental beasts came to Nightgaze's side and seemed to purr at his touch.
"Your little stick beasts don't frighten—" Bodyl's voice was choked off by a swift strike to the throat. The now snarling, tiger-like beasts were upon them, their every move dictated by the elf with the terrifying gaze. The fight was on as the group quickly split to deal with the threat. Each hack and strike only served to temporarily shift their wind-made bodies, unless they were able to get in a lucky strike on one of the larger wooden parts.
"Strike at the legs!" Maiev called, bringing her barbed, circular weapon to sever the two long branches that composed one of the beast's forearms. It howled in pain as it tried to strike, only to find the severed limb dangling useless before it. With Maiev's astute plan, the mercenaries managed to break the first beast's wooden frame in too many places for it to stay together. With a bellowing lurch the feline bundle feel to the ground in a pile of debris. The second elemental suffered a similar fate, but only after slicing Meryld's leg open from upper thigh to the knee and inflicting many a bruise and gash on the rest of the group. The sweat on Nightgaze's furrowed forehead was easily visible.
"He is all that stands between us and the gem, go now!" Bodyl shouted with little need for persuasion as Shandori and Maiev charged in, with the rest of the group not far behind.
But Lord Nightgaze was not like the clumsy contractors, nor was he as the druids and mages in student garb. Nightgaze used his countless years of practice and skill in the art of fear and phantom-bending as he dodged the strikes and spells with unnatural speed. Though he was a sorcerer by trade, each strike that found a foe struck as hard as an ogre's forceful fist. With a blurry movement, Nightgaze sent Potan stumbling backwards with a vicious uppercut to the chin. The tauren's nose began to profusely bleed where his usual bronze nose ring once was; it lay torn from his snout on the wooden floor. He could do nothing but attempt to heal the wound as the terrible assault continued.
"Pathetic!" Nightgaze scoffed as he grabbed Christoffel by the top of his leather armor and threw him against one of the tall branches with seemingly little effort. The action caused the night elf warrior in the group to up her attacks but his keen eyes saw the emotional sloppiness and made Shandori pay for it with a demeaning backhand to the face. Even Maiev, with her agile movements and skillful weapon handling, struggled to deal any real damage. But despite Seth's unusual skill and superior ability, his breath began to labor. Meryld could smell a strange odor seeping through his pours as strain and sweat began to drip from form in rivers.
"Keep at him, the geezer's getting tired!" Meryld howled before bringing her maw down on the small portion of flesh that was not protected by his black-cloth mantle. Lord Nightgaze roared in agony as he desperately clawed and reached for the worgen, digging his nails into her snout and scalp. After a few excruciating minutes he managed to throw the elder worgen over his shoulder, bringing an angry cloth shoe to her gut. But before he could crush her wind pipe with the same ambitious foot, Seth felt the sting of familiar magic on his body. The mercenaries had bought Bodyl enough time to cast an incantation, a terrible flesh-melting flame engulfed Lord Nightgaze, sending him screaming to the ground.
"Got him!" Shandori sneered as she moved in with her watery blade to finish the mage off.
"DON'T!" Bodyl shouted as Shandori dug the blade into Nightgaze's back. The steam cloud that ensued burst with scalding clouds, burning Shandori and forcing her to stumble backwards. The sword's enchantment halted the terrible spell, cooling the terrible wound it created. As the steam began to abate, dead silence tapered with the sound of cooking flesh met their ears. For a moment it seemed the elf had fallen, as he crouched with burnt clothing barely covering his scar-marked form.
But then it came: slowly at first., a small, dark laugh began to grow as the charred form began to rise. Shandori felt her heart begin to race as the laughter became a little louder. Christoffel could feel a chill run through him as the nightmarish cackling became a full on roar of pained laughter. The sound echoed through the Pinnacle Bough as the crisp form began to stand.
"W-Well done…Well done." Nightgaze rasped as he clapped two charred hands together. His eyes held no darkness, only golden amusement at the looks of horror and fright before him. He looked to the sword, still imbedded in his back, and slowly pulled it out. No blood came as he brought the blade to his hand. "Perhaps you should have been more…candid with your little minions, my brother. Maybe then you would have succeeded in your effort." Nightgaze smiled as he took a step towards the group, tossing the blade to the ground with carless abandon. The movement brought a new wretched smell of burnt flesh. "But, who am I to deny you? I mean you came all this way from your little rat's nest didn't you? It would be too rude, too CRUEL not to give you what you truly came for."
"Y-You wouldn't dare…y-your efforts, all these years will be for nothing!" Bodyl's face went pale as a cool sweat began to wash over his pounding chest. The spell had been intended to kill his former comrade, but instead the action awakened a steeping rage that had been building since either of them could remember. Seth's gaze was twice that of the one he employed against the demons of the Black Temple and those under its golden light found themselves unable to move. Bodyl's trembling words and terrified eyes were like salt Seth's oldest open wound.
"Disgusting little coward. Every day spent in this wretched existence is one more moment owed, you gelatinous sack of shit. I am a prisoner, my mate and children are prisoners,; prisoners in our own flesh because of a craven piece of living garbage. Do you honestly believe I give a damn about 'my efforts?' About this project? No. It has all led to this moment, dear brother, and you shall all feel my torment!" Suddenly, all of the dark cheer was gone. Nightgaze's boiling rage erupted as his form began to contort and swell. What was left of his clothing lay on the floor as black leathery wings burst from his back with flame-colored brilliance between their long, black-scaled fingers.
"Ho…" Shandori's eyes went wide as the elf's arms began to grow, as claw like hands began to lengthen into obsidian talons.
"…ly…" The group continued to watch with horror as Lord Nightgaze's face began to elongate into a massive scaled maw with teeth the size of tauren men. Small puffs of smoke came from his upturned nostrils as prominent, proud black horns threatened to scrape the sky. A long, mace-tipped tail thrashed around, culling dozens building-sized branches and sending them hurling to the churning ocean below.
"…SHIT!" Shandori screamed as one massive talon came down and nearly crushed her dwarfed form. It took all her speed to avoid death as the gigantic elder wyrm looked down upon his hated enemies with ember colored eyes. All of the fury, anger, and rage that had been hidden for so long behind the mortal guise and had festered in the white-hot blood of the black dragon Setharion, came forth in a roar that deafened the dawning heavens.
Orifiel felt her body freeze as what sounded like an explosion followed by a terrible roar shook the very floor she stood on. Those that still fought felt themselves pause in their attacks for a moment to look for the cause of the sound. Vareesa and Anduin, in their hesitation, could only helplessly watch as their battered pig-tailed enemy vanished in the confusion. F-bomb and McGowan stopped their belabored battle as both sank to their knees in exhaustion. A father and son parted by tragedy and reunited on the brink of it, found their strangely sweet moment tainted by fear. The mages in the depths of the Tangled Canal were spared no volume as the terrible roar threatened to sink their resolve. Only a few moments of peaceful silence remained before a second roar shook the tree. Orifiel could barely hear Malfurion's voice as she strained to translate the terrifying sounds into speech.
"Lady Whitedeer, Lady White—ORIFIEL!" Malfurion called as he placed a hand on her trembling shoulder. She quickly shook her head.
"Y-Yes."
"What is happening in the Pinnacle Bough?" Malfurion asked as a tremor and a second explosion rocked the tree and nearly sent all who stood to the ground. Another, longer roar came which made Orifiel's eyes go wide.
"…get everyone out of the tree, NOW!" Orifiel shouted for Morion and Violetina to lead the remaining forces to the flight decks and emergency portals to the docks. She shouted to any who could hear to abandon their Twilight enemies and flee.
"Calm down, child and tell me what is happening!" Malfurion scolded as they put down any foolish Twilight cultist who still tried to put up a fight.
"Seth is up there, he is exposed. There is another and he's calling for draconic reinforcements."
"Shall I send someone to fetch them?"
"…yes. I will do what I can to evacuate your people and mine. We cannot let the Twilight Flight get that gem!" Orifiel, finding herself a bit more composed, nodded in affirmation. Malfurion wasted no time in finding a lesser winded druid of the talon to set off on the errand as Orifiel ran towards the upper-bough portals. Her heart was pounding as she lovingly cursed Seth's name in every language she knew. She prayed to Elune that her abilities would be enough to keep what ever was coming at bay while Malfurion's druid flew for reinforcements.
But despite Orifiel and Malfurion's speedy reaction, others took note of the black dragon's call. Those particularly resilient Twilight fighters, who were still able to fit in the spacious but confining trunk, shed their mortal guises in favor of their true, violet-tinged forms. Among them, the secretive Balumbra transformed into a massive blue-violet leviathan and crushed the valiant mortals who continued to impede him even after his change. He and the others of his flight moved to any window or opening in the trunk large enough to grant them passage into the air as one by one, violet wings carried sinister creatures towards their goal.
Keesha shivered as she, Han, Trenton, and little Inge waited with patient expressions but shifting feet for their turn to leave the tree. Han often allowed women and children to go ahead of him in line, an action that caused Keesha to frown and roll her eyes but not utter a disparaging word to her virtuous mate. The ground they stood on shook violently for a moment as what sounded like an explosion from the upper part of the tree caused several of the people waiting in line to shout or scream. "What the hell was that?" Keesha looked to Trenton as his face suddenly went as white as a clean sheet. "Trenton?" Keesha asked as a terrible shadow fell over the flight deck. The massive branches culled by Setharion's thrashing tail plummeted towards them. The frightened hippogryphs squawked in terror as many loosed themselves from their pens or handlers as the branches crashed into the flight deck.
"Look out!" Keesha screamed as she shoved those in line behind them back as the branches crashed into the flight-deck, cracking the very edge of the structure from the rest of the tree. The terrible sight caused those who were at the back of the line to flee into the trunk where a priest or mage might find them and steer them towards the emergency portals. Keesha was just a few steps away from the unfortunate ones crushed by the enormous braches and those plummeting to their deaths. She turned with terror in her glowing gold eyes to see Han, fallen and sliding, to the edge of the broken flight deck.
"HAN!" She shrieked and attempted to run down the cracked slope to rescue her beloved. But as she moved to do so, a strong set of hands grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close.
"Keesha, don't you'll fall!" Trenton shouted as he watched the dazed Hanariel sliding further down the slope of the bent deck. Hanariel struggled to hold on to the jagged edge but his weak arm and single hand were not enough to stop his shifting decent. Hanariel felt the air and sea breeze claim him as he fell to his watery doom. Keesha shouted and kicked as hard as she could to rescue her lover, but Trenton held fast. His heart sank as he lost one of his charges, but would not relinquish the second as she cried out in grief.
"Han…" Inge called. She remembered the big promise she made to her mother, never to show anyone her secret. But Han, her beloved glowing Han, was in trouble and would surely never smile at her or bring her sweets at lunch time without her mother knowing ever again if she did not break her promise. With a nod the little girl ran to the edge of the flight deck and jumped. Keesha felt it impossible to breathe as she watched the tender human child seemingly commit suicide. She could no longer find the will to fight against her captor as she sank to the ground in a heap.
"No…why?" Keesha cried, the licking wind offering no comfort from the loss. Trenton stood silent and listening as a small, clicking chirp came to him with the wind. He felt his heart leap as another series of light hearted chirps and hums came to his ears as something approached.
"K-Keesha Who-whoa, steady now…" A voice triumphantly called from below. Keesha did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes as a strange beast, carrying a nervous and glowing burden rose to her sight. The young drake was just out of its whelping horns as it gave a happy chirp at its great success. The drake carried a shaken but uninjured Hanariel on its shining, white-scaled back. Han's eyes went wide for a moment as he marveled at something just beyond where Keesha stood.
"H-Han! What…b-but Inge she…"
"She is right in front of you." Another, inhumanly deep voice replied. Keesha turned and nearly tumbled onto the sunken slope as a sizeable drake sat where Trenton once stood with an amused smile. "Please don't be afraid. As I said before, we're here to get you both to safety. It would have been better had we not had to resort to this but…" It spoke as it unfurled its black-scaled and golden skinned wings. Keesha had seen black drakes before but not with the strange golden scale patterns that lined his face, arms, ribs, and hind legs.
"T-Trenton?"
"Terronian actually, but we'll have plenty of time for intro's and explaining when we reach the island. We need to go!" Terronian asserted as he crouched down allowing Keesha to get on his back. He spoke in draconic to his adopted sister who nodded and flew in the direction of Terronian and Inge's favorite and decidedly secret get-away. He smiled as he kicked off into the open sky, wings longing for the feel of wind beneath them.
"This, this is too weird." Keesha marveled as the sea-wind whipped at her face. She held on to two large spikes along Trenton's bronze-scaled back as they traveled away from the embattled tree.
"Tell me about it. If I'd have known you'd be riding me tonight I would have bought you some chocolate or something first."
"Trenton."
"Yes?"
"I'm not afraid to punch a dragon."
"Noted. But I don't suggest you do that now, I'm all out of parachutes." Terronian snorted as the welcome laughter almost made him forget the faces of those killed only moments before. He tried to quash the rising images as the four friends hurried away unaware of the carnage that was to come. More flashes and explosions came from the upper bough as Han and Keesha turned to see small fires starting to burn. Strange, distant creatures were seen flying from the tunk to the upper branches, as Keesha's eyes went wide.
"More dragons, how many of you were hiding?" She marveled as no less than 100 or so purple leviathans circled around the great tree.
"A few of the mages and druids, why?"
"That's more than a few. I've never seen purple dragons before…" Han marveled as the Twilight dragons starting disappearing into Mydrassil's branches.
"W-What?" Terronian gasped as he called to his sister in draconic. He had his suspicions that some of the violet brood had survived along with their mortal minions, but even in his best attempts at scrying and bouts of intuition he could find none among the hidden, mortal-bodied multitude. Inge hesitantly nodded at his thought and made no effort to stop him, as the golden striped black dragon flew close to her flank. "Hanariel, stay with my baby sister. Keesha, accompany them, I have to go back."
"Why?" Keesha gasped as Terronian's gold-slit eyes grew narrow.
"Do not question me, just do it!"
"Don't you order me around! I will snatch up your black ass and make me a nice pair of boots outta you, you talk to me like that again." Keesha barked. Terronian let out a frustrated sigh.
"My father is up there; he cannot fight all of those monstrosities off himself. My mother charged me with keeping you both safe; she said nothing about me returning." He nodded, flying steady and close to his adoptive sister's side.
"Let's get something straight. I don't answer to your mama. If I'm going to take over half of that tree, I'm damn well going to defend it too."
"Agreed." Han nodded causing Inge to whine and coo in the only language her dragon-tongue could muster. "What is it Inge?"
"My little sister cannot come; she does not know what flight she's from and can't produce magic yet. Please I will grant you anything you wish if you'll accompany her to the island and keep her safe…Keesha and I will return for you when things calm down…" Trenton grumbled as Keesha patted him on the back of the head as she would a puppy. With that the lovers and the reluctant siblings parted as Setharion found himself under siege.
Thrall's ears were ringing. It took every ounce of self-control not to clasp his ragged hands over his ears as the roars came. The shaking branches, though tightly woven into a floor, swayed as the behemoths did battle just outside the woven walls in which he and his shamans labored.
"What's going on out there!" Thelma Thornbear shouted over the noise as she sank to one knee.
"Dragons, I know their battle cries well!" Thrall answered as his heart began to pound. The wards were nearly done, only a few more minutes and their many weeks of hard work would be over. But giant dragons were doing battle just outside their wooden room and thoughts of shouting to his comrades to flee did cross his mind. But a joyous sound reached his ears; among the fierce roars and cracking branches a crisp chime overtook it all as the gem's warding was complete. The shamans collapsed in exhaustion, but rest was not an option as the woven walls began to twitch.
"Sometin' be happenin'; we gotta get outta hea!" Jango shouted as the woven walls unraveled into writhing entities. The shamans pulled out their weapons as the twisting branches finally began to slow and settle, one of which drooped low and sprouted a fine, white bloom. When it opened, a familiar voice came to their ears, but the sound seemed layered as if not properly synched with that moment in time.
"TTTTTTTttthrall. Take the branches down to the lower levels and get your shhhamans to the docks. A White Branch workers will take you to one of the sssssssafe-shores. We will take it from here, go nowwwwwWW!" Orifiel's eerie voice commanded but offered little explanation as the branch rose again to allow its fellows to bow and pick up the reluctant shamans. The branches pulled the four laborers down and passed them to lower branches until they were placed within the trunk and within walking distance of the emergency portals.
Once the area around the gem was evacuated, the branches clamped down around the gem, weaving a solid case around the object so tight, that its brilliant glow could not be seen. But while the shamans were carried to relative safety, Shandori and her cohorts were fighting to stay alive as to two massive black dragons did battle. Blood, scales, and shattered branches flew about the scene like a maelstrom as Setharion and his former brother Bodylon fought to the death.
"We gotta get the fuck out of here!" Shandori shouted as she looked for the way they came or any other way out of the upper most boughs.
"What about the money?" Christoffel added as he was struck in the arm by a torn but razor-sharp dragon scale.
"FUCK THE MONEY! I'm not getting paid to screw around with black dragons. Besides, our boss just turned into THAT. I have a feeling we weren't going to be paid anyway!" Shandori shot back as she lifted her shield to stop a stray shard of wood from striking her neck.
Bodyl was looking ragged as Setharion viciously dug his talons deep into his hated brother's shoulder and flank, bringing his massive jaws to clamp down on the bleeding dragon's throat. Bodyl struggled to breathe as Setharion raked his tauren-sized teeth across his enemy's throat, cutting it open and showering the ground with torn black scales and crimson liquid. Bodyl light headedly stumbled with a gurgling cough.
"You've los-lost brother…they come for you!" Bodyl wheezed in draconic as he desperately tried to counter but only succeeded in falling to his side. With a growling scowl, Setharion quickly brought his head down and grasped his brother where his vertebra and skull connected. With a quick twist of his gigantic maw, Setharion finished the foul dragon that nearly killed his beloved mate in outland and forced their continued hiding among the mortals. The limp body nearly crushed his mortal minions as they hurried to move out of the rolling death-trap. Setharion, bloodied and injured, did not have a moment to savor the triumph as the scent of acrid magic mixed with his own blood came to his nostrils.
"Come out of hiding, wretched beasts." He snarled as the perched multitude of violet dragons began to circle him. One in their number, the Twilight dragon called Balumbra, flew down to land just out of striking range of the bleeding Mydrassil defender.
"So you are Setharion "Blackhorn"…a pity, you look much like the master did. It is uncanny."
"Not the mad aspect you knew. I am among the first brood of the earth warder, no son of "Deathwing." Why have you plagued this place, although your kind does not seem to need a reason..."
"Our fallen brother spoke of a great gem of power. Our new master has graciously requested it. You shall give us the Mydrassil gem and you shall perish." Balumbra roared as the swarm of small but powerful dragons struck. Although they were a fraction of the elder wyrm's size, their numbers more than made up for their stature. Setharion struggled to stay on his feet as he threw those he could get with his mouth around like child's toys.
Shandori and her mortal companions struggled to avoid getting crushed under one of the dragon's bodies as they scrambled to find a way out of the tree. They stumbled into a small hallway and thanked whatever granted them the discovery. The group hurried down a spiral branch as the entire structure began to shake. The Twilight dragons began breathing terrible arcane and fire spells at their enemy and burning the protective mesh of branches around the great gem. Smoke billowed into the small pathway and into the upper bough as the very walls around them began to quiver. Branches broke away from the rest of the woven walls and began to try and grab at the small group as they struggled to beat them away.
Meryld was the first to be grasped, like a mouse captured by a coiling snake, and brought someplace out of sight. Fighting the thick smoke and now grasping branches, Shandori's thinning group struggled to stay standing as Maiev found her legs and waste bound by wooden adversaries. As the group finally made it back towards the abandoned trade districts of the upper bough, their labored breaths and dragging feet seemed to seal their fates.
Potan, suffering loss of blood and terrible wounds, fell over in smoke-lunged exhaustion with no words or great healing spells able to rouse him to his hooves. Shandori and Christoffel, unable to find the strength to lift the ailing druid, left him to his fate. The pair of elves stumbled as the strange smoke threatened to suffocate them.
"Th-There!" Christoffel wheezed as small rays of morning light pierced through the churning smoke. The entrance to one of the balcony-cafés was left open, allowed fresh air and temporary salvation to wash over their bruised and battered forms. But to their dismay, the balcony had no discernable escape as the branches swayed violently above.
"Damnit." Shandori cursed as the tree shook, sending twigs and leaves falling over them. Christoffel pulled Shandori inward, but the growing heat at their backs made the prospect of being crushed by fallen debris far more appealing.
"We're fucked!" Christoffel coughed as the ashy smoke thickened behind them.
"Chris."
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
"W-What?" Chris asked while struggling to stand as another tremor nearly sent him to his knees. The direness of the situation did not strike him until another massive branch came down and knocked the guard rail and part of the balcony's edge away in one thunderous pass.
"Sorry I got you into this mess…" Shandori shuttered, doing her best not to let her fear bring tears to her cheeks. Christoffel cursed and looked for any hidden vine or branch to grab onto.
"D-Don't say that. We'll get out of this, we always do!" he reassured. Shandori quietly reprimanded herself as she wiped the wetness from her vision. It was then that something, many things began to glisten over the pulsing sea.
Shandori didn't know if the dark spots on the horizon were tricks of the eye or real objects. She felt her heart begin to swell as the sight of a swarm of multi colored beasts flew into the swirling cloud of violet dragons. She cheered as wings of green, red, bronze, blue and even a few black unleashed a fresh battle onto the attacking dragons as their roars echoed against the glowing white bark.
"Hey, Hey up here! HEY!" She waved, trying to get one of the great leviathans' attention. But the dragons had their own agenda and as they passed by, the flames roared behind the trapped mortals. Shandori covered her eyes as more twigs and broken branches fell on the battered balcony. But in one terrible lurch, Shandori lost her footing and went flying toward the rail-less edge. Christoffel fell to his knees as he lifted his vision to see Shandori fall over the edge of the balcony.
"DORI!" Chris shouted as he shuffled over to where the night elf desperately clung. She tried to pull herself over the edge but her heavy armor and the polished surface made it a seemingly impossible task. Chris grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up, but he wasn't sure if it was fatigue or smoke in his lungs that made his partner so heavy. "Hold on I got you."
"Don't you let me go! Don't let me go!" Shandori, for the first time since they'd met, sounded like a frightened woman rather than a shrewd mercenary. The tone made Christoffel strain well beyond what his state would allow as she seemed to sink in his grasp. Shandori felt something tug on her leg, loosening her grip on her blood elf companion. "…Chris!" With another tug from a fiendish hidden branch, Christoffel felt nothing but the crisp morning wind between his fingers as the woman he had come to treasure sank beneath the clouds with a face that would surely haunt him for the rest of his living moments.