[Salyssa] Unquiet Memories
Stepping carefully through the sodden underbrush of Silverpine Forest, Salyssa found herself briefly wondering why she was there. She'd been sent on so many errands for the Apothecaries recently - or, well, whatever the Apothecaries were called now, after the Wrathgate debacle. There were times when it was difficult to remember what she was supposed to be doing, especially since she had done many of these tasks - or very similar ones - in the past, sometimes more than once. Like most of the rest of her life, and unlife; complicated, and a bit confusing, especially to the person who happened to be in the middle of it.
She paused for a minute under a dripping pine tree, intending to take the list out of her pocket - she always had a list, for exactly this reason - and figure out what exactly she was doing. Instead she stopped and stared.
“Sarilussa?”
It was a familiar, human figure, familiar male voice, using her old name, the most recent one she'd left behind. She blinked and put out her hand to lean against the wet bark of the tree beside her, shocked into a moment of disconnection from the world.
“Ed... Edding?”
“Oh, babe,” he said, and then his arms were wrapped around her, his scent and presence so familiar it made her want to cry, so she did, ashamed of her weakness, unable to stop, as a dark bloom of confusion welled up in her mind.
“Why are you here?” she said, wiping her eyes and looking up. In Silverpine, in Horde territory... and then she remembered the cabin. It all snapped into place in her mind. Of course, his mother's cabin, where he'd taken her when she'd finally sought him out, tried to help her wean off the bloodthistle and booze. She'd avoided the area in all her previous trips, but now, somehow, she'd stumbled on it again.
“Eh, well,” he said, pushing her wet blonde hair away from her face. “They make me take time off from the cathedral every so often, otherwise the priests are afraid I'd work myself to death.” He grinned, still brushing the side of her head with his hands, though her hair was all cleared away. “And sometimes I come down here, just... in case.”
“In case you might see me,” she said, and shook her head. “Ed, it's so dangerous. There's worgen all over the place, and undead, and...”
“Yeah, but I guess it was worth it, this one time,” he said, his voice husky and low as he leaned forward. Kissing him, also, was familiar, a warm return to a place where she'd once felt something like safe and happy. A more recent memory tugged at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite capture it. Her back prickled, little claws skittering down her spine. Something felt very wrong.
The vague sensation of wrongness faded away as he leaned back and smiled at her, then took her hand, leading her the few paces to the door of the cabin. She stopped in the doorway and looked inside, feeling her heart race. What looked abandoned and decrepit on the outside was a careful mask, hiding the cheerful, homey comforts of the interior. One big single room - stove, hearth, a table and three chairs, a woven rag rug on the floor, and the bed with the patchwork quilt, all of it impeccably clean and neat, the way Ed always kept everything. His demons were nowhere to be seen, for which Salyssa felt grateful.
“Come on, come in,” he said, tugging at her hand. She allowed herself to be pulled inside, and sat down on one of the chairs. Salyssa watched as Ed turned away to start a kettle boiling for tea. He looked just the same... dark hair, sun-browned face, wearing neat but simple pants and shirt, always clean and tidy. He refused to wear robes, called them “dresses”, but he was definitely a warlock - sort of. His practice and talent lay in healing, the kind of healing that didn't depend on magic, and he was very good at it. He used the demons to help his practice in various ways, but aside from that, he barely touched the fel energy at all. She had always wondered how he had the strength to resist the temptation of easy power, admired him for being able to do so.
Her ears twitched, and she looked around, mildly uneasy. Ed had always spurned using fel magic more than absolutely necessary... so why did she feel the fel taint, active magic, whispering like a rotten breeze through the cabin? He brought steaming mugs to the table, and she inhaled the fragrance, pleased to identify his personal blend, then made a puzzled frown. He'd been out in the woods... why had the fire been lit when they'd come inside?
Ed turned his head very slightly to one side, still holding her gaze, and then he leaned back, lounging all over the chair in the way she'd seen so many times, sipping his tea. “Sal, babe... why did you run away?” he asked.
Salyssa looked down at her mug and pushed it around on the table a few times. “I was going crazy,” she said, tapping the mug with a fingernail. “Not just from missing the bloodthistle. The succubus - I think she was messing with my head. I was afraid I would hurt you, and, well. I was very confused.” Sighing, she looked up at him, and was amazed at how much it hurt to see him frowning at her.
“I came back one day and you were gone, no note or anything,” he said quietly. “I ran out and looked for you, but, fel, I'm not a tracker. So I went home and waited for you to write. When I didn't get any letters, I... figured you'd run into a worgen or something out here. But I just couldn't make myself believe that you were dead. Not you.”
“Ed, I'm so sorry,” she said, looking down at the table again. “I don't know what to say. It was stupid, and I'm sorry I hurt you.”
He sat up, putting his mug on the table, and reached out to take her hands. Startled, Sal looked up at him. “Well, I forgive you,” he said, smiling again. “I'm just glad to see you again. And I hope that you're - happy to see me as well.”
“Of course I am,” Salyssa replied, her shoulders tense. She had an urge to pull her hands away from him, an impulse that she couldn't understand, as if his grip was some kind of trap. Why did she still have the feeling that something was wrong?
“Come on, you look cold.” Ed stood up and tugged at her hands. “Let me... warm you up, and get some of that tension out of your back, eh?”
This, too, was familiar, the sinking, leaden feeling in her stomach. It was the unspoken reason why she'd fled - that she'd come to suspect that his primary, possibly entire, interest in her was for sex. She frowned and pulled her hands out of his. “Ed, you can't just - no.”
“Can't what?” he said, spreading his hands with a boyish grin.
“Expect me to walk in out of the forest and jump into bed with you, after not having seen you for almost two years,” she snapped.
His eyes narrowed, and he turned his head again slightly, as if he was listening to something behind him. Salyssa blinked, catching a hint of movement behind him, then jumped to her feet and backed up against the wall. “What is this,” she hissed, reflexively snapping up a shield of ice around her body.
“Damn it, you told me she'd be easy!” The man who'd been posing as Ed turned away and seemed to melt, his voice deepening from Ed's familiar smooth tenor into a deep growl. His body bulked, skin turning greenish, hair disappearing as tusks emerged from his mouth. In seconds, the familiar human had been replaced with a strange orc male, dressed in dark purple robes. Salyssa shivered, recognizing them as the habitual costume of a member of the Twilight Hammer. Over his shoulder she could now make out two more figures: a female orc, wearing the lurid green and purple colors of a warlock, her hands shining with sickly black light as she channeled a spell - and a succubus.
“She would have been, if you weren't a fucking idiot,” the demon said. As the male orc opened his mouth for another petulant complaint, she waved her taloned fingers, and he disappeared.
Salyssa stared at the demon. “Zyrexa,” she said, back pressed against the rough wooden wall. “I banished you, you bitch.”
“No, you dismissed me.” The succubus smirked as the cheerful, homey cabin around them twisted and warped, stretching away into a damp, gloomy cavern, the air reeking of fel magic. “So I found another sponsor, and came back.” She gestured vaguely at the female orc behind her, who was still focused on maintaining her spell. “I owe your soul to my masters, and I'm going to deliver it.”
“I'm not a warlock anymore, and I'm not joining any demon-worshipping cults,” Salyssa said, struggling to gather her power. She felt heavy, slow, distracted... she blinked. “This is a dream.”
“This is a message.” Zyrexa's face twisted in a hideous snarl. “I'm not giving up on you, Sarilus, darling. I need your soul. The demon cults have been told to bide their time. We're coming back, and this time we will take your pitiful world and burn it to ash.”
Gasping for breath, Salyssa stared at the demon. “Coming back? What...”
“You'll find out, soon enough. And, just in case you try to convince yourself that this was a dream after all...” The succubus smiled, then twitched her wrist, expertly flicking her whip out. Before Salyssa could move, the tip had scored her across the face in a burning slash.
The pain seemed to break whatever spell had been holding her, and the scene began to fall apart, bits of the cabin and cavern stripping away and fading into greyness. “I'll see you soon, my dear Sarilus,” the demon promised in a croon that made Salyssa's skin crawl. Then she twitched, her eyes opening blearily, staring around her room in confusion. The elf fumbled out of her bed, one hand held to her stinging cheek, and staggered into the small bathroom, tapping the light on with her fingers. She stared grimly at her reflection in the mirror, at the long red welt running down her face from hairline to lip.
With the rising sun brightening the window behind her, Salyssa began to curse quietly and thoroughly, in every language she knew.
She paused for a minute under a dripping pine tree, intending to take the list out of her pocket - she always had a list, for exactly this reason - and figure out what exactly she was doing. Instead she stopped and stared.
“Sarilussa?”
It was a familiar, human figure, familiar male voice, using her old name, the most recent one she'd left behind. She blinked and put out her hand to lean against the wet bark of the tree beside her, shocked into a moment of disconnection from the world.
“Ed... Edding?”
“Oh, babe,” he said, and then his arms were wrapped around her, his scent and presence so familiar it made her want to cry, so she did, ashamed of her weakness, unable to stop, as a dark bloom of confusion welled up in her mind.
“Why are you here?” she said, wiping her eyes and looking up. In Silverpine, in Horde territory... and then she remembered the cabin. It all snapped into place in her mind. Of course, his mother's cabin, where he'd taken her when she'd finally sought him out, tried to help her wean off the bloodthistle and booze. She'd avoided the area in all her previous trips, but now, somehow, she'd stumbled on it again.
“Eh, well,” he said, pushing her wet blonde hair away from her face. “They make me take time off from the cathedral every so often, otherwise the priests are afraid I'd work myself to death.” He grinned, still brushing the side of her head with his hands, though her hair was all cleared away. “And sometimes I come down here, just... in case.”
“In case you might see me,” she said, and shook her head. “Ed, it's so dangerous. There's worgen all over the place, and undead, and...”
“Yeah, but I guess it was worth it, this one time,” he said, his voice husky and low as he leaned forward. Kissing him, also, was familiar, a warm return to a place where she'd once felt something like safe and happy. A more recent memory tugged at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite capture it. Her back prickled, little claws skittering down her spine. Something felt very wrong.
The vague sensation of wrongness faded away as he leaned back and smiled at her, then took her hand, leading her the few paces to the door of the cabin. She stopped in the doorway and looked inside, feeling her heart race. What looked abandoned and decrepit on the outside was a careful mask, hiding the cheerful, homey comforts of the interior. One big single room - stove, hearth, a table and three chairs, a woven rag rug on the floor, and the bed with the patchwork quilt, all of it impeccably clean and neat, the way Ed always kept everything. His demons were nowhere to be seen, for which Salyssa felt grateful.
“Come on, come in,” he said, tugging at her hand. She allowed herself to be pulled inside, and sat down on one of the chairs. Salyssa watched as Ed turned away to start a kettle boiling for tea. He looked just the same... dark hair, sun-browned face, wearing neat but simple pants and shirt, always clean and tidy. He refused to wear robes, called them “dresses”, but he was definitely a warlock - sort of. His practice and talent lay in healing, the kind of healing that didn't depend on magic, and he was very good at it. He used the demons to help his practice in various ways, but aside from that, he barely touched the fel energy at all. She had always wondered how he had the strength to resist the temptation of easy power, admired him for being able to do so.
Her ears twitched, and she looked around, mildly uneasy. Ed had always spurned using fel magic more than absolutely necessary... so why did she feel the fel taint, active magic, whispering like a rotten breeze through the cabin? He brought steaming mugs to the table, and she inhaled the fragrance, pleased to identify his personal blend, then made a puzzled frown. He'd been out in the woods... why had the fire been lit when they'd come inside?
Ed turned his head very slightly to one side, still holding her gaze, and then he leaned back, lounging all over the chair in the way she'd seen so many times, sipping his tea. “Sal, babe... why did you run away?” he asked.
Salyssa looked down at her mug and pushed it around on the table a few times. “I was going crazy,” she said, tapping the mug with a fingernail. “Not just from missing the bloodthistle. The succubus - I think she was messing with my head. I was afraid I would hurt you, and, well. I was very confused.” Sighing, she looked up at him, and was amazed at how much it hurt to see him frowning at her.
“I came back one day and you were gone, no note or anything,” he said quietly. “I ran out and looked for you, but, fel, I'm not a tracker. So I went home and waited for you to write. When I didn't get any letters, I... figured you'd run into a worgen or something out here. But I just couldn't make myself believe that you were dead. Not you.”
“Ed, I'm so sorry,” she said, looking down at the table again. “I don't know what to say. It was stupid, and I'm sorry I hurt you.”
He sat up, putting his mug on the table, and reached out to take her hands. Startled, Sal looked up at him. “Well, I forgive you,” he said, smiling again. “I'm just glad to see you again. And I hope that you're - happy to see me as well.”
“Of course I am,” Salyssa replied, her shoulders tense. She had an urge to pull her hands away from him, an impulse that she couldn't understand, as if his grip was some kind of trap. Why did she still have the feeling that something was wrong?
“Come on, you look cold.” Ed stood up and tugged at her hands. “Let me... warm you up, and get some of that tension out of your back, eh?”
This, too, was familiar, the sinking, leaden feeling in her stomach. It was the unspoken reason why she'd fled - that she'd come to suspect that his primary, possibly entire, interest in her was for sex. She frowned and pulled her hands out of his. “Ed, you can't just - no.”
“Can't what?” he said, spreading his hands with a boyish grin.
“Expect me to walk in out of the forest and jump into bed with you, after not having seen you for almost two years,” she snapped.
His eyes narrowed, and he turned his head again slightly, as if he was listening to something behind him. Salyssa blinked, catching a hint of movement behind him, then jumped to her feet and backed up against the wall. “What is this,” she hissed, reflexively snapping up a shield of ice around her body.
“Damn it, you told me she'd be easy!” The man who'd been posing as Ed turned away and seemed to melt, his voice deepening from Ed's familiar smooth tenor into a deep growl. His body bulked, skin turning greenish, hair disappearing as tusks emerged from his mouth. In seconds, the familiar human had been replaced with a strange orc male, dressed in dark purple robes. Salyssa shivered, recognizing them as the habitual costume of a member of the Twilight Hammer. Over his shoulder she could now make out two more figures: a female orc, wearing the lurid green and purple colors of a warlock, her hands shining with sickly black light as she channeled a spell - and a succubus.
“She would have been, if you weren't a fucking idiot,” the demon said. As the male orc opened his mouth for another petulant complaint, she waved her taloned fingers, and he disappeared.
Salyssa stared at the demon. “Zyrexa,” she said, back pressed against the rough wooden wall. “I banished you, you bitch.”
“No, you dismissed me.” The succubus smirked as the cheerful, homey cabin around them twisted and warped, stretching away into a damp, gloomy cavern, the air reeking of fel magic. “So I found another sponsor, and came back.” She gestured vaguely at the female orc behind her, who was still focused on maintaining her spell. “I owe your soul to my masters, and I'm going to deliver it.”
“I'm not a warlock anymore, and I'm not joining any demon-worshipping cults,” Salyssa said, struggling to gather her power. She felt heavy, slow, distracted... she blinked. “This is a dream.”
“This is a message.” Zyrexa's face twisted in a hideous snarl. “I'm not giving up on you, Sarilus, darling. I need your soul. The demon cults have been told to bide their time. We're coming back, and this time we will take your pitiful world and burn it to ash.”
Gasping for breath, Salyssa stared at the demon. “Coming back? What...”
“You'll find out, soon enough. And, just in case you try to convince yourself that this was a dream after all...” The succubus smiled, then twitched her wrist, expertly flicking her whip out. Before Salyssa could move, the tip had scored her across the face in a burning slash.
The pain seemed to break whatever spell had been holding her, and the scene began to fall apart, bits of the cabin and cavern stripping away and fading into greyness. “I'll see you soon, my dear Sarilus,” the demon promised in a croon that made Salyssa's skin crawl. Then she twitched, her eyes opening blearily, staring around her room in confusion. The elf fumbled out of her bed, one hand held to her stinging cheek, and staggered into the small bathroom, tapping the light on with her fingers. She stared grimly at her reflection in the mirror, at the long red welt running down her face from hairline to lip.
With the rising sun brightening the window behind her, Salyssa began to curse quietly and thoroughly, in every language she knew.