HOME | DD

melony-mutou — The Cataclysm: Part 1
Published: 2010-10-14 16:33:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 1048; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 6
Redirect to original
Description Aeken travelled quickly down the path. She sniffed the arid air, smelling the rank brimstone of boiling lava. She felt her soul ache as the earth screamed in pain. She looked beside her, reaching out to gently stroke the mane of her tiger mount.
"How is your paw, Ghal'lah?" She spoke gently, voice strained in some way.
Better now, The massive beast responded with a gentle rumble from its throat, But I still do not think I could support my partner's weight. I apologize.
"Do not apologize, Ghal'lah. I should not have picked that fight with those Goblins, and you would have not been injured in our flight." Aeken responded, sounding mournful.
But to carry you quickly is what I am here for, He attempted, sounding torn as well, I am a waste and burden if I cannot do the only task you bestow upon me.
"It is better this way, Ghal'lah," Aeken insisted, "This way, we will not accidentally leap off the edge of a cliff that was not there before, and into certain death..."
...The land, it hurts...
"I know it does, Ghal'lah. I know it does. I feel it as well. ...Keep smelling. There must be some clue, somewhere, anything, something upon the ground, in the dirt, a footprint, a hair, anything. ...We must find her, Ghal'lah." Aeken suddenly looked away, unable to stare at the Nightsaber a moment longer, feeling an absolute ache in her heart, an ache that was causing a throbbing in her throat and was gradually wetting her glowing eyes...
Must, or want to?
"We must!" Aeken shot back swiftly, voice nearly cracking, but she was able to control it, "If not for Elune and the safety of Darnassus, then simply because she is a being and deserves life and help as well!!"
They continued on in silence for a few minutes as they walked through the barren, dusty plains. Though they would suddenly be forced to a halt when the road was torn abruptly by a massive crevice, at the bottom of which bubbled molten rock, attempting to escape the earth's core. At these places, they were forced to either backtrack or find a new route; Somewhere inside, Aeken acknowledged that It was likely one day there would be a bridge here or there, but, being the first appearance of these cracks in the earth of Azeroth soil, no one was prepared and no rope bridges would exist until long after her task here was through.
After these few minutes, Ghal'lah spoke in her head once more, I am worried for our homeland...
Aeken nearly visibly flinched, still trying her absolute hardest to not seem effected by anything the creature brought up. She must be strong for him, now more than ever. ...or maybe she needed to be strong for herself...
"I-I am too, Ghal'lah," Aeken assured after a torn moment, "O-Once we find Caelyn, that is exactly where we will head."
Yes, if this is the state of the Barrens, then what must be the state of our homeland? Is Teldrassil alright? Did the Earthquakes shake it as well? Or rather... what of Darkshore? The coast...? Is it flooded, much like Ratchet?
"We will find out soon enough...!" Aeken sputtered, attempting to quiet him. She didn't want to think about that. None of that. Thinking of her current task was worrysome enough, with that on her mind as well, she may as well slide a dagger through her chest and end this miserable, mortal existance she had come to despise so much now.
I smell something! Ghal'lah abruptly reported, halting immediately.
Aeken jerked to see him, "What?! Where??" She demanded of the creature, frantic now.
I... I smell blood. His voice was grave.
Aeken froze for a moment. She shook her head quickly, "WHERE, GHAL'LAH, FOR THE LOVE OF ELUNE, TELL ME WHERE!!"
This way! Ghal'lah swiftly bounded away, and Aeken quickly followed, wasting no time to try and keep up with him, even though he went much faster despite his injured paw.
Before long, Ghal'lah came to a stop and sniffed carefully at the ground. It is here. He reported.
Aeken came swiftly beside him and pushed him a little to get a look. "B-Blood... There's blood splattered on the ground... ...Are you sure it is Caelyn's blood, Ghal'lah?" The Night Elf now turned desperately to the tiger.
He gave a solemn nod. I have smelled enough of her blood to know with absolute certainty that it is the female human mage's blood. It is most definitely her blood. Caelyn's blood.
Aeken jerked her head up and scanned the landscape with her silvery eyes, scrutinizing every tiny detail she could. She stood, slowly, then moved a few feet, kneeling once more and reaching out with her gauntleted hand, almost hesitantly touching a patch of grass. A patch of grass that was heavily singed and burnt. "This is not from the land collapsing; this is from something else..." She breathed. Ghal'lah came beside her, gave a sniff, and nodded in agreement.
It smells not like stone, but like fire.
The Night Elf stood once more, and once more scanned the area. She darted several more feet forward. "M-More blood," She breathed, "And more burnt grass." She then glanced around again, darting for a small hill. She hurried atop it and looked around.
Now she found she could see that, all around the area, there were patches of blood and singed grass. It was concentrated in the area, but nothing was too heavy. She felt a sick feeling stirring within her chest, "What in the name of Elune happened here...? Ghal'lah... Canvas the area, search for more blood!" She ordered the tiger, and without a response, he took off past the area they could see covered in blood and singed weeds.
Before long, Ghal'lah called to her with a massive roar. Here! More blood! It is more faint! Droplets! As if from high above the ground!
Aeken swiftly darted to her steed's side, checking the ground, and finding that he was, indeed, correct. She glanced upward, then felt a thought hit her that she despised with all of her being. "...Did a Dragon attack Caelyn?"
That is reasonable. Ghal'lah informed, though Aeken ignored him and continued forward. She found another set of droplets.
"They go this way!" Aeken followed along the trail very swiftly, not about to stop. There was another feeling boiling in her chest now: Hope. Hope that, maybe, just maybe, she was now following a retreat trail. That maybe, just maybe, the human mage she was seeking would be at the end of this trail, trembling in a hollow tree, and would look up at her desperately as she approached.
"Sensei!" She would cry, weakly, but gratefully. "Sensei, thank the Light it's you!!" Though not given permission, she would stumble to her feet and tackle the Night Elf with a tight hug. "I need your help!"
"I can see that, Caelyn. Hold on tight. I'll be there to help you soon."
It was what seemed like an eternity of running; Which seemed ridiculous, in retrospect. Being immortal for so long, one would think she would be tolerable of such a ridiculously short amount of time passing, compared to how long she had been alive for now.  A life she had been sick of. ...A life she had been very sick of... until very recently... Caelyn, I am going to beat you senseless when I find you!! For making me worry...! Worry about a HUMAN, of all things...!
She stared forward as far as she could, watching the path, scrutinizing it. The blood splatters were getting larger, more frequent upon the dried grass and the barren ground. She spot a tree some ways ahead, a tree that was just barely managing to cling to life, but what she saw a few feet in between her and the tree is what caught her eye. It was what froze her in her spot, and sucked the breath from her lungs. It drained all the hope from her body an soul, and she felt a more painful ache than she had when she watched her mother and father get slaughtered by those monstrous human Defias...
A large, bloody spot was on the ground two yards away. More towards the top, the earth was singed till  one would no longer be able to cultivate it. Ghal'lah had stopped beside her, staring at the spot. With his extraordinary senses, he could see the devastation in that patch of land, the story it told, and the smells that explained a gruesome scene of horrible, excruciating pain.
For another long while, Aeken could not get herself to move. She felt as if she did, any possibility that Caelyn was still hiding somewhere, waiting for her Sensei to rescue her, was going to slip out of her grasp. Though, she knew eventually she had to move, and more as an involuntary response, her legs somehow forced her forward, and before long she was beside the singed ground, falling to it.
She sniffed the air. She smelled death. She felt the of the earth as it cried for a loss. "G-Ghal'lah..." Aeken breathed, voice almost nonexistant, "...is this... her blood...?" Her bones ached, the ground, the earth, the world, weeping. "Is this... is this Caelyn's blood? ....Is Caelyn dead?"
Ghal'lah stepped forward on a fragile footfall, sniffing gently. He leant down into the burnt ground and closed his eyes as he felt with all his natural might to find some indication of what happened to the human fire mage. ...If she is dead, where is her body?
"SOMETHING COULD HAVE EATEN IT!" Aeken sputtered, suddenly overcome with emotion; something she rarely did.
If something had eaten it, there would still be pieces around, would there not?
"NOT IF THEY SWALLOWED HER WHOLE!" The Night Elf snapped haughtily.
I do not smell that kind of death. Ghal'lah attempted, leaving the Night Elf to stare at him in desperation and anguish.
"GHAL'LAH DO NOT DANCE AROUND THE QUESTION, IS CAELYN DEAD?!"
...There is no proof of that, I do not sense that kind of death, if any death at all. I do not know what I smell, it is odd, it is not normal, it is something I have never smelled before; I could not tell you what has happened to The Mage. That is her blood. I believe she was attacked... but... there is no... true indication of a permanent death... Ghal'lah suddenly paused, cat eyes glancing to the side of them.
Aeken turned her head, following his gaze. There was something that had caught his eye, and it just as quickly caught hers as well. She exchanged glances swiftly with the mount, then crawled towards what she saw, a flash of grey. Ghal'lah watched her with a scrutinizing eye.
The Warrior reached out and grabbed the flash of grey, and held it up. A blood-splattered shirt lay in her grasp, grey, of incredibly high quality. The female Night Elf slowly began to run her fingers along the stitching; Then paused and ripped her glove off furiously, before running her fingers along it once more, feeling the stitching delicately, running her hand along the neck of the shirt.
Drips fell onto the blood stains. Along her decorated cheeks, tears began to slide, following the pattern down towards her chin, slipping off and falling below. Before she knew it, she had released a loud sob, choking for breath. "Caelyn... you FOOL...!" She wept, "YOU CARED MORE ABOUT THE STUPID SHIRT YOU PROMISED ME, DIDN'T YOU?! YOU...!" Aeken cried out in anguish, shoving the neck of the shirt to her face, crying into it freely.
"YOU WERE ATTACKED?! YOU WERE ATTACKED, I KNOW YOU, YOU FELT I WOULD BE ANGRY IF I DID NOT GET THE SHIRT, WHO CARES ABOUT THE SHIRT, WHERE ARE YOU, ARE YOU DEAD?! IF YOU ARE DEAD, WHERE IS YOUR BODY?! WHERE IS YOUR SPIRIT?!! WHERE IS THE CREATURE THAT ATTACKED YOU, THE MONSTER WHO HAD THE GALL TO DO THIS TO YOU?! THERE IS NO WAY YOU WERE WEAK ENOUGH TO FALL PREY TO THE CATS OR RAPTORS, WHAT HAS ATTACKED YOU, WHAT HAS BROUGHT THE PROPHESIZED HERO TO HER KNEES, WHAT IN THE WORLD COULD SO GREATLY INJURE THE MOST ANNOYINGLY PERSISTANT HUMANOID IN EXISTANCE?!?!"
"Who would dare take my friend from me, in this time, just when they knew I could not get to you, to your aid?! Who has done this?! Who must I KILL!? Who must I MANGLE?! WHERE ARE YOU, CAELYN?! I WILL GO MAD WITHOUT YOU, WHAT WILL I TELL QUEEN TYRANDE, WILL I GO TO HER WITH THIS BLOOD-SOAKED CLOTH AND TELL HER YOU ARE DEAD AND NOW DARNASSUS IS DOOMED?! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!! I NEEDED YOU!!! I NEEDED YOU CAELYN, HOW COULD IT BE THAT SOMETHING BAD COULD HAPPEN TO YOU WHEN I NEED YOU SO BADLY!?"
Aeken sobbed. "...if you are alive... how can i find you...? if you are dead... how can i put you to rest...?" Ghal'lah had now bowed his head, ears tucking back against his head. He felt as his partner's heart ripped to shreds, an ache as one he had never felt from her radiating from her very soul as it shattered to pieces.
"How in the world can I go on without you? What will I do now? What purpose can I serve? I was supposed to be your bodyguard, whiile you trained yourself... Trained yourself to defend my people, now I have failed, I have lost you, the only Human I could ever call a Friend..."
Aeken!! Thank Elune, Aeken, I am in need of you! Come to Darnassus, quickly, Aeken!
A voice flashed through her head. It was faint, and weak. The Night Elf lifted her head, quickly. "Q-Queen Tyrande...! I...!"
There is no time, Aeken! Elune needs you, your people need you, Darnassus needs you, the Earth needs you! I cannot speak for long, I am lucky I can even contact you, come swiftly to Darnassus, tell all the Hippogryph Masters that it is of the utmost importance you get here as quickly as possible, tell Ghal'lah to run past his limits!! We need you...! Auberdine...!! Flooded... .... teldrassil.... danger... darkshore.... earthquake..... ..wind.... ..now, Aeken... ...us soon... ...Elune... ...guide you...
Aeken stared at the yellowish ground for a long, long time. Almost as if contemplating. What was more important? Her people, or a human mage? ...A human mage that was phrophesized to save her people one day... a human mage that could now be dead, when she was needed so urgently at her home...
"Gh-Ghal'lah. We must go to Darnassus, we must go home." The warrior stood, suddenly more resilient. "You must ignore your pain, my friend, Queen Tyrande calls, and Queen Tyrande is the word."
I understand. Ghal'lah nodded firmly, stepping beside his partner and lowering himself.
Hesitantly, Aeken lifted herself up, throwing her leg over the saddle and settling herself, taking tight hold of the reigns and patting the tiger's head crest. "Run as swiftly as you ever have, my friend. Our home needs us greatly. Finding Caelyn must wait, no matter how much I wish to look now... Darnassus calls... our people, they call, they cry for help, as the earth cries..."
The Night Elf's eyes lingered on the burnt patch of earth for a long minute before she could get herself to turn around and jerk the reigns, gently kicking the mount's ribs. The beast took off, footfalls crunching grass below their combined weight, not taking a moment longer than he needed to keep moving.
Whether she is alive or dead, we will find her. I swear on my newly mortal soul, I swear by Elune, that I will find you or your body Caelyn, and I will avenge you, no matter what it takes. Because you were not just the phrophesized hero of Darnassus, you are my friend.
Related content
Comments: 1

Kayln [2010-10-15 03:28:43 +0000 UTC]

Brilliant and chalk full of emo-y goodness! 8D

Srsly though, absolute love xD Can't wait to read the continuation!!

crap now gotta make the shirt grey >.>...it was actually blue xD;

👍: 0 ⏩: 0