So I've just posted the first two chapters in the book. I enjoy AO3 much more than FFN, the formatting is just much easier, but read on whatever you want idc. I would say that we're about 20% done with this story at this point? Maybe not even, I still have a bunch of stuff I want to get down. Anyways, enjoy! This is going to be our first proper fight since Farthen Dur (even though it's not a 'real' fight).
The battlegrounds in the forest were located in a massive clearing between the trees. Connor and Irelia stood side by side, watching the groups of elves fighting with various weapons. At the far side of the clearing, Connor could see Thorn watching Murtagh as he fought a younger looking elf. Connor made his way over, sticking to the edge of the clearing, watching the whole way. He sat down next to Thorn, Irelia sitting next to him, leaning against him slightly.
Murtagh was getting his ass beat. The young elf was many times faster, and he was playing with Murtagh. The young rider was blocking most blows, but took a swing to his shin, falling down to the ground, dropping his red rider's blade. The elf stood above him, a cruel smile on his face. He raised his elven blade above his head, and swung it down straight at Murtagh.
An instant before Vanir's blade struck Murtagh, a blade appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The black blade pulsed with purple veins, holding steady against the heavy blow. "Haven't you heard that it's not nice to beat up a cripple?" Connor stood at the other end of the blade, a sneer across his face. "Come on elf, are you scared?" He pushed Vanir's blade back, causing him to stumble.
"You're that fucking demon! You don't belong here, you failed excuse of a rider."
"Bold words coming from a child. You are just a boy, so I guess you don't know any better. Eventually someone was going to have to teach you some lessons about manners." As Connor lowered his blade, taking a fighting stance, Irelia helped Murtagh off the field. Murtagh was holding his back, seemingly in severe pain.
Vanir only paused a moment before charging at the shade. Connor didn't move. He got closer and closer, letting out a yell, yet Connor still didn't move. Right as Vanir's swing would have made contact with him, he blinked out of vision, reappearing behind the elf. He kicked him hard in the back. Vanir fell with even more force due to his swing hitting nothing. He stayed down for only a moment, before pushing himself up, snarling. Connor had sheathed his blade.
"Shall I make it fair for you, little elf?" He teased, holding up a fist. Vanir charged him, only for Connor to blink to his side. This time the elf was ready, and quickly redirected his swing towards the shade. The blade was caught by Connor's bare hand, stopping the swing instantly. Vanir tried to pull his sword out of Connor's grip, but couldn't. Connor stared Vanir straight in the eyes, blinking away and appearing some feet back, one of his talon daggers in his hand. "Do you want to yield, puny elf?"
Vanir looked at him with all the disgust in the world, baring his teeth, "You don't belong here, you're a fucking monster! You're going to destroy everything. Why don't you just kill yourself, it'd be better for everyone." He started to circle around the shade.
"Oh my, oh my. You're so feisty elf, too bad you're weak. You fight for your pride, and not for your cause. You fight with your emotions, and you're so easily manipulated!" He let out a laugh, before reaching down and slashing his dagger across his forearm, a large amount of blood immediately welling up. The shade laughed even harder, grinning. He took a step towards Vanir, who in turn stepped back fearfully. "You think that you have a chance against the king, do you? You think that you'll walk into that castle and you'll kill that bastard. Do you think you're different?" He stepped forward again, Vanir stepping back. "You'd need to train hundreds of years to defeat the king, and the dragon that you so wish for would never help your efforts." He took another step again, "I would suggest you yield, it'd save your pride more than having to be carried out of here." He paused, smiling at the beaten elf, "Do you know what I have gone through?! You would never be able to understand! More pain than you could comprehend. Have you ever watched the life drain out of the other half of your soul? I watched my fucking dragon die. If you think that telling me anything could affect me, you're dreadfully wrong."
Vanir took another step back, and another, and another. He slowly backed out of the training grounds, "What the fuck are you?" He whimpered a little.
Laughing his demonic laugh, the sound of a man with nothing to lose, "You want to know what I am, little elf?! I… Am Oblivion!" As the shade spoke, his eyes started to glow a dark red, emitting a low glow.
Vanir started to back away, unable to look away from those demonic eyes. "You don't belong to this world." With that he turned and ran.
"So, elves. I believe I have your attention. Is there anyone here who would like to try to challenge me?" Connor stared around at the various elves gathered around him. Irelia glared at him from Thorn's side, her blades twitching in annoyance, although Connor thought he saw the slightest twinge of a smile in her eyes. "Come on, nobody? I will fight as many of you at a time, to make it fair." He laughed, the grating noise filling the training grounds.
Three elves emerged from the crowd, an elf with long black hair wielding an elven blade, another sword-wielding elf with short cut brown hair, standing much shorter than the other elves, the third, a confident lady with short, blond hair, wielding a pike. The lady holding the pike spoke up, "We will fight you, if and only if you do not use your teleportation magic." Connor nodded his agreement, finally drawing his blade. The mid-morning sun shone on his rider's blade, highlighting the pulsing veins.
Connor dropped his sword to his side and started walking in a circle around the three elves, the tip of his blade dragging loudly. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw Irelia tilt her head, confused at his display. Once he had walked a full circle around the elves, he picked up his blade, finally looking at his opponents. The line in the ground from his sword started to burn, a dark purple flame, almost black. The flame rose up higher and higher, almost reaching the lowest branches above the clearing, yet the flames were transparent.
The two sword-wielding elves nodded after the pike wielding elf, and rushed the shade. Connor parried every single blow from the swordsman easily. The pike wielding elf, seemingly the team leader, stayed back and threw bolts of energy towards the fight. Connor blocked every blast with a simple thought.
He focused on taking down the swordsmen first, using an earthen wall to block a blow from the long-haired elf, his blade getting stuck into the wall. He turned, ducking under a jab from the pike, and rushed the shorter swordsman. Connor grinned in his face as he locked blades with him, tilting his head to dodge a blast of energy, hearing it zip past his ear. The blast hit the wall of fire, immediately fizzing away.
Beating the short elf in a duel of pure strength, Connor pushed him down to the ground. His sword was at the elves' throat immediately, not even an inch away from him. "Dead." He turned back around to observe the current fight. The team leader was watching him with a look of intrigue, but he could see the fear in her eyes as he stepped towards her. The other swordsman had finally freed his blade, but had tired to near-exhaustion breaking the heavy wards on the rocks. Connor looked over at the swordsman, "Dead." The elf nodded, backing away from the fight, knowing that he could have been killed in less than a second.
He quickly knocked out the final elf, dodging a pike jab and snapping it in half over his knee. He then smacked her across her side, careful to not truly harm her. As she fell to the ground unconscious, he stepped through the flame wall, the flames falling after he walked through them. Irelia rushed after Connor, a concerned look on her face, her blades moving restlessly behind her.
"That was unnecessary." Irelia stated the obvious as she stood at the door of Connor's tree. She crossed her arms, frowning.
Connor sighed, "I needed to fight something. The elves don't seem to be as good of fighters as the king made them out to be." He shrugged.
She sat down next to him on the couch, "At least let me check you for injuries." Connor nodded, he didn't truly have a choice anyways. He had sworn complete fealty to Irelia in a show of devotion to the Varden. He took off his shirt at her bidding. He sported a few bruises, but was otherwise completely uninjured.
Irelia ran her hand across his back, he shuddered at her cold hands. Despite being cold, they felt like fire on every inch of skin she touched. She leaned in to him, kissing his shoulder. "Thank you for protecting Murtagh, Connor."
He looked at her with the gentle smile he reserved for only her, "It was pointless to let that fight continue, Murtagh would have been injured even more. His training would be even more stunted. It appears that the injury he sustained from Durza is going to become a part of him."
"Oromis said that because Durza had cursed his own blade, Murtagh's injury is not just an infection, but something much deeper that not even he knew how to repair." She paused, her hands pausing on his shoulders, "Connor? Why does my wound from Durza not bother me like Murtagh's wound?"
"I- I chose to heal you over Murtagh. I know just enough about cursed magic in order to remove the curse, but only minutes after it was inflicted. The wound is nothing but a scar for you now, although the tissue was damaged severely, and all my energy was put into the curse removal."
"You should have removed the curse from Murtagh instead." He looked down at her, frowning.
"But- you would have died, Irelia. I couldn't lose you. You've been the only person who treats me like I'm just Connor. You've shown affection for me. The last person that showed me affection was my mother, and she 'died' when I was around six I believe. I am curious, and please be honest, do you still suffer any from the injury?"
Irelia moved closer to him, her entire body making contact with him. "I could show you a lot more affection than I am right now." She raised her eyebrows suggestively, reaching down to rub his lower side. He shuddered at her touch. "And no, the wound does not hurt me any, other than the occasional twinge when I step funny." She inched closer to him.
"Irelia… Not now. I- I can't do that with you."
"Why not?"
"I'd prefer not to say."
"Come on, just tell me." She pleaded.
His fealty led him to immediately comply, "I'm terrified Irelia okay? It scares me to think that you could feel anything about me, and I'm just not ready to commit to that yet." She pulled away from him, a hurt look on her face. "Wait, Irelia. That doesn't mean that I don't like you, I definitely like you… a lot. I'm just not ready to be that intimate with you." He reached over to grab her hand, "Irelia, you told your mother that we were mates. Would you like to make that reality?"
She froze, looking right into his eyes. He started to panic.
After a few seconds, she couldn't hold it in and grinned before tackling him on the couch. She ended up laying on top of him, kissing his neck, her hands on his chest, his arms embracing her.
"Connor, I've never felt this way before" She moaned into his lips. "I love you."
He froze.
She lifted herself up, looking down at him. "Is everything okay?" His eyes were blank.
"What did you just say to me?" He sounded almost angry.
"I- I said I love you, Connor." She smiled hesitantly. "You don't have to say it back, but I need you to know that I love you." Her blade slowed to a near stop behind her, folding together in the shape of her family crest on her back. "I'm sorry." She had turned a dark red, "I just needed you to know."
He nodded, but didn't say anything for a minute. Instead he opened his mind up to her, allowing her into his head. He showed her the emotions he felt about her. He showed her his want to smile around her, he showed her how he felt lighter around her. Most importantly, he showed her the fact that she made him feel wanted for the first time in his life. "I don't really know what to say Irelia, but… I think I'd be able to agree with you." He reached up, moving a strand of her hair away from her eyes.
Irelia stood up, "How about we call it a night?" She asked nervously, still blushing. She was obviously shocked at Connor's display of emotion.
He nodded, glad that she asked as a question, and not as a request. He headed up the wooden stairs of their combined treehouse, her hand in his.
He slept fitfully that night, curled up against his now mate's side, their arms around each other.
I don't really know what to put here. College has been going alright so far, I'm on winter break now. Writing this story has actually helped my mental state a decent bit though, it helps clear my head and is generally enjoyable. I can't say for sure how consistent updates are going to be, but I'll try to work more on this story next year. Posting this on Christmas Eve, so happy holidays everyone!