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Arian By:Ryker
Chapter 1 Arian
He'd been traveling for a couple weeks, alone, nobody with him. But why should there be? No one likes the mysteriousness of a mage. People were generally kind but the vast majority would not spend much time around them. Mages were powerful and altogether misunderstood by the rest of Azeroth. Plus, they were so keen to becoming power hungry and evil that they ceased to be mage's becoming warlocks, necromancers or in extreme cases even losing their humanity. What use to be thought myth, people like Illidan might even become demon.
Even so he still felt lonely and a complete outcast. His goal was to rise among the ranks of the world, the Kirintor and prove that all the while he could resist the evil powers and keep his sanity. He would no longer be such an outcast but still obviously misunderstood. But even if there was someone who wanted to embark on this journey with him he wouldn't have it, he couldn't stand the guilt of death of his compatriots whether it was his fault or not. He always felt the pang of loss and sadness that lingered for the rest of his life.
To add to his differences, he was one of the few remaining elves that saved themselves from the hunger of magic that attacked them when the Sunwell was destroyed by the undead scourge. He pitied his blood elf brothers and sisters and held no grudges against them for some were not so strong as to resist the compulsion of feeding off of the demons they knew were evil. They thought they were doing good ridding the world of the taint but inexorably changing themselves, his most fanciful goal was to free them of their curse. He tried to keep his mind off this subject because it always enraged him to a point that something would explode from the latent magics that permeated his being.
His name was Arian, he was tall and lanky like most of his kind, fair looking, had long dark black hair, silver blue eyes and of course the long pointed ears that were privy to such humor and retort from the lesser races. His face was strong and narrow, and even though he was a mage he wasn't without physical strength and prowess. He had thick muscles and he was quick as an arrow. He had a mind and wit as sharp as a sword that had been polished for years.
His mission sent him in search of an abducted group of people that were in service of the alliance. They were a couple of dwarfs, a gnome and one other person who must have been of extreme import because he was given neither the name or race of this person, only that there was one another in the group. It angered him that he wasn't privy to such important information but he took the job all the same.
He had little evidence of where they might be, but so far the intelligence gathered had led him to Dunmora. Obviously this wasn't his destination, only a crossing between point a and point b, but he was sure it wouldn't be his last. He was only going there because intel told him that was the last place they were thought to have been during the abduction. His destination was Silverpine where he would try and find more evidence that would set him on his trail.
He often grumbled to himself because of the cold of this wretched place, how the dwarfs ever could stand being here even with their hot mountains escaped him utterly. It was a thick snow scape filled with thick pine trees and mountains that were infested with wolves, bears and even extremely dangerous windago's. The place seemed isolate and lonely, and the constant howling wind bit to the bone. He preferred the lush green and constant look of autumn of Silvermoon and the wilderness that surrounded it. It depressed him very much at the thought he could not go back because it was now part of the horde.
He walked. Although there was a piece of gnome engineering masterpiece and genius that would transport him from Stormwind to Ironforge he didn't trust them in the slightest bit, thinking that these weird contraptions were no more reliable then the make of goblins crazed inventions. It was some kind of weird mount, mount if you could even call it that. It moved on metal and was controlled by metal, and what gnomes called electricity, that all together confused him. How they could move such things without magic propelling it mystified him and thought maybe they lied about their genius and did use arcane lore to move these strange mounts of theirs. But all the same he did not trust it.
He did not care, his magic could help him on his way there and transport him past most dangers, but he was careful not to go too far because he might get himself stuck inside a mountain, building, or in a river of molten lava.
He was almost to Ironforge where he would get some well deserved rest, replenish his supplies and hopefully get some kind of information that might help him find the whereabouts of the captives and who might be holding them. Once Ironforge was in view he also caught sight of the guards who's beards were dragging with the fierce wind. They were looking back at him although could not quite recognize who or what he was because their sight was not as good as an elf's. They came marching up and saw him for what he was and said, “Greetings elf, I thought you might be one of your evil siblings for I could not see your eyes and I'm no longer accustomed to seeing any of your kind. As a matter of fact I haven't seen one of you in years and years, so state your name and your business.” He said, “My name is Arian, my business is confidential within the alliance, thus i can not elaborate on the matter.”
“Thank you Master Magus, we heard you would be making a pass through here. Go on ahead, if you need direction to anything you can ask any of the guards stationed all throughout this great city. Do not shy.” Arian thanked them and made his way up the mountain road to the grand city.
He thought about just summoning his own food and water but decided to just ask one of the guards where he might find food and shelter. “Just towards the magic ward Master Magus” said the guard. “You will find a great little inn, they will feed you and give you a place to sleep, for some coin of course. Enjoy your stay in Ironforge.”
Arian had never been to the city and was awed when he looked down at the grand entrance. A statue fit for the gods was made of iron towering over him bellowing a war cry with its axes held up and out to his sides as if ready to strike down all foes foolish enough to stand in his way. If he thought that was the end of it he was wrong. He walked past and stared in amazement at the skill of the dwarfs craftsmanship - the ground was flat and flawless the ceiling was so high up he could almost not see it, it was jagged but beautiful in its majesticness.
The place was in a constant bright reddish glow that showed everything. There were bridges over grates that barely separated one from immanent doom of a hellish fiery death. There was a bank, an auction house and an armory. Plus there were hundreds upon hundreds of people of many different races. There were dwarfs, gnomes, nightelfs, humans, and even the enigmatic draenie who came from a planet he knew not of. He made his way to the inn, he would have to visit the wonders of the rest of the city the next day because he was weary and slightly hungry.
He walked into the inn slash bar and could hear the loud ruckus going on, the clinking of pints, the deep throated laughs of loud dwarfs and a couple humans. Some people were singing, some playing games of luck and skill, and others just minding their own business in corners drinking their mead.
“What may I do for you troll ears?” Said the bartender with a wry grin. “Just looking for some food and shelter, coal digger” said Arian. The bartender frowned and said, “I guess I deserved that, you got a sharp wit.” and he smiled. “I like quick witted people, but that won't stop me from making you pay. If you got some copper you can get yourself some meat and some brew, mind you not great brew - that will cost more. May I suggest Thunderbrew? Greatest of the lager in these parts in my opinion but will cost around two silver.” “Great” said Arian, “I'll take it.” He paid up and the dwarf bowed saying, “Thank you. Lodging here is free as long as you buy something. Since you have bought something, you can go when you're ready. I'll have my assistant take you down to your room as soon as you feel like it. Feel free to make your self at home.”
So Arian sat and ate some ribs, drank his Thunderbrew, and then asked for the assistant to take him to his room. “Yes Magus Arian” said the assistant “Right this way sir, the sheets are clean and the bed is soft so have a good night.” The next day he took a short tour of the city seeing as he shouldn't stay for too long, for only the gods know what might happen to the captives if he's not there in time to save them.
If he thought that the colossal statue was amazing though, it was nothing to the great forge. Arian's jaw dropped in awe as he saw the immensely vast cavern. There was molten lava flowing from the ceiling into large vats. Dwarfs, and many master and apprentice blacksmiths would toil endlessly over hot blistering metal, creating masterpieces of war. There were some engineers making funny little contraptions that no doubt were dangerous, such as small sticks of what was called dynamite that could blow ones hand off.
Arian stocked up on supplies and decided to go to the gryphon handler to see if he could buy fare to what was dubbed the wetlands. Wetlands - because of its marshes and inhospitable landscape filled with deadly crocklisks, raptors. It even had some extremely evil pasts in one part of its region called Grimbatol which sent shivers down his spine when he even thought of it and of which was only mentioned in whispers in dark huddled corners.
When he got to the wetlands he was to take a small ferry across the water to Hillsbrad Southshore were he would try and get a horse and make his way to Silverpine. “OY THERE!” said a rather husky man who had a large broad sword across his back. He had a thick mustache and bald head as smooth and shiny as a polished gold coin and had a stern look about him. He was clad in plate mail armor with a thick helm hefted between his arm and side. “What may I have the pleasure of meeting you for?” said Arian. “My name is Jacob Long Sword and I have come to join you on your mission by orders of the great and noble king Varian Wrynn.” “Join me?” “No, no, no, I specifically requested that I do this alone.” “Well you have no say in the matter, Varian specifically ordered me to join you on this mission, and that's final.” Arian frowned, “I guess if you must, but you are responsible for your own life and you better keep your wits about you because I will not have you endangering this mission because of stupidity.”
“But first if you really are ordered by the king then I want absolute proof. If you have orders signed and stamped by the king then I will have no choice but to accept this intrusion on my requests.” “He said you might say that”, mentioned Jacob, “So here you are, I hope this satisfies your requests.” Arian looked at it for a great while sighed and finally said, “I guess I have no choice, but remember...” Jacob interrupted , “Yeah yeah, yeah I know I'm responsible for my own life and to try and do nothing stupid... I may be human but I'm just as smart as any elf.” Then Arian's countenance took an extremely grim look upon it and then said, “Then you best be ready because I don't want any delay. There are lives at stake here and I will not let it be my fault for their undoing.”
Chapter 2
To the Skies and Over the Sea
“How far to Menithal?” yelled Jacob. “Not too far, we will be there before mid-day.” They were flying on pre-trained gryphon's. They were horse sized flying beasts, they had the body of a lion, a beak and gigantic wings that spanned about eight feet each direction. Flying was not a sensation Arian was used to, but he basked in the glory of it with the cold air whipping past his face and through his hair. It made his eyes sting and water. He could see everything below him. They were on the back side of the giant Ironforge snowcapped mountain were he could see huge rams standing on the sides of cliffs and hares running to hide in their burrows when they got scared of the giant flying beasts above them. It made him smile and laugh, there's nothing that was more amazing and exciting than flying, thought Arian.
He looked over to see Jacob who didn't seem to be enjoying himself as much, but just holding on for dear life. The gryphon was squawking with anger because Jacob would grip its feathers too tight. Arian laughed at his attitude and he tightened his legs around the gryphon and held his arms out to embrace the wind. “Are you crazy?!” yelled Jacob “You'll get yourself killed!” Laughing, Arian said “Were not all like terrified rabbits that have just been plucked out of the sky by an eagle and waiting to be thrown to its immanent doom when flying.”
They did this for about another hour before Menethil came into sight, it was a rather large town with a keep in the center surrounded by houses and an inn. About ten minutes later they landed at the gryphon's stable. Arian was reluctant to get off but he knew his duty and dismounted. Jacob seemed much happier saying, “Thank the gods I'm off! I never want to do that again, I wasn't meant for flying.” Arian said, “Well then, you might be happy because were taking a ferry across the sea to Southshore. It will be better than having gryphon's because you can't camp while flying across the sea. We can rest on the boat. We will be making on our way at dawn.”
“I'm going to the inn. You should go get some supplies and food to replace the little bit we used up on our way here.” “Sounds good. Is there anything specific you need?” “No just the usual.” So off they went. As Jacob went and got supplies Arian decided to go to the inn. Some people were eying him with suspicion as he walked by. He walked into the inn and it didn't get any better. He decided he was going to ask around a little more carefully for anybody with any information or if they had heard anything about an abduction.
He walked up to the bar and sat there for about a minute with the bartender looking at him. Finally, with a bit of rudeness in his voice, the man asked “Is there anything I can do for you elf?” “As a mater of fact you can sir,” said Arian, “I'm on official business of the alliance and I'm wondering if you have heard of anything about an abduction.” “NO” said the bartender, “No I haven't heard anything of the such and I would like you to leave if your not going to buy anything. So good day elf, that means get out.”
As he was walking out a dwarf said, “EY lad, come here let me buy you a drink.” “No I think not,” said Arian. “On the contrary, you are. I got some information for you, things that you might find important.” That caught Arian so he said, “Ok master dwarf, what is it you got to say?” “Come with me” he said. “Let's find a place where over-keen ears can't drop in on us.” He threw some coins to the bartender and said, “We will be using your cellar for a bit if you don't mind.” “Yes of course. You are quite generous.”
The place was dark, dank and wet. The floor was made of stone and there were three big kegs made of wood, the only light in it was filtered from the tavern above. And the dwarf said, “I do have some information on the matter of an abduction. I believe the group consisted of two dwarfs, a gnome and an elf.” “An elf?” said Arian with surprise. “Yes, not blood elf either” said the dwarf. “You got more information?” “Yes” “Then tell me.” “No”, said the dwarf. “What do you mean, no?” asked Arian. “You know too much” said the dwarf, “And now you must die!” He pulled out a dagger and two more dwarfs came out of the shadows and lunged at him. Arian leaped back in shock and outrage, and with the quick flick of his wrist one of the other two dwarfs burst into flames and ran around screaming. As Arian did that he got stabbed in the leg and he roared with fury and kicked the first dwarf in the face shattering his nose. The dwarf yelled out in pain but wasn't stopped there. In that time Arian pulled out a weapon of his own, a falchion. And with his magic he made the sword burst with flames and then cut the other dwarf's head off as if a hot knife through butter. No blood came out because the wound was instantly cauterized from the blades intense heat.
The first dwarf slashed at him cutting Arian across the chest, Arian snarled and slashed back and missed - he kicked and the dwarf dodged it. The fight went on for about a minute between the two and then suddenly the dwarf turned to ice and the fight was over. Arian poked him and he tipped over shattering into a thousand little pieces and melting into water. Arian fell over with exhaustion, panting, he heard the bustling of feet above the cellar.
The bartender was looking in with fury in his face. “WHAT IS ALL THIS GOING ON?” he yelled. “I'm very sorry sir,” said Arian gasping for air. “I was ambushed by these lowly scum and had to dispatch them. Please help me up, I don't think I can carry myself up there by my own.” The bartender was obviously still angry beyond reason, but he helped Arian up all the same albeit not so gently. “This always happens around you god damned good for nothing mages” said the bartender. Arian looked at him with frustration. With steel in his voice he said, “Lots of people misunderstand us, but we have emotion all the same as every other sentient being.”
“Sit here at this table,” said the bartender. “By the way my name is Mikhail. If you need me talk to Helbrek, the inn keeper here, I'll be sending Fremel Doohickey down to patch up those wounds of yours.” “Thank you.” responded Arian. Just then Jacob walked in and said, “Hello there Arian, I was looking for - what in the name of my dead grandmother happened to you?!” “Got ambushed by three dwarfs obviously out to assassinate me. They knew things about the abduction and I'm yet to inspect their persons for clues. Since the king insisted on sending you, I'll need you to do it for me because I find myself incapable of doing much and I need to recuperate from the fight.”
Jacob frowned and then said, “I shall do that right away.” He asked the dwarf, “Can you show me where they are?” “Of course” said Helbrek, “Right down here, now be careful to not get things too messy down there, I'd like to make this as easy as possible to clean up.”
At that moment an extremely short person came scuttling down the stairs waddling over to Arian, belatedly he realized it was a gnome. “Hello Magus, I am Fremel Doohickey, I have been sent down because of some kind of emergency. Is that right?” “Not quite urgent, but yes I seemed to have been stabbed in the leg and cut across the chest” said Arian. “Ah, yes, yes, yes, I shall get to that quickly. I will need about six in good condition pieces of silk cloth so I can make me some bandages. And I'll need some hot water please.” “I shall do that.” said Helbrek. The dwarf disappeared for a couple of minutes coming back with some cloth, a small tub of hot water and a flagon of mead. “Here drink this elf” It will help with the pain.” Arian thanked him. Fremel soaked a rag, and cleaned the cuts. He then pulled out a needle-and-thread, held it over a small candle, and said, “Drink up and bite onto something because this might hurt.”
Arian gave a small grunt of pain but other than that he held up quite well. With obvious skill and precision of long years of practice Fremel stitched up the wounds and then bandaged them. “That should do. I'll get you some extra bandages. Once you reach Southshore you should find someone to take those stitches out. Remember to replace the bandages every two to three days.” Arian said his thanks and went back down to the cellar.
“Find anything Long Sword?” “No, nothing but these stupid daggers. The dwarfs must have gotten their orders directly. No message and no sign of allegiance to anyone, no nothing.” said Jacob. He crossed his arms with frustration and continued, “But I thought you said there were three, but I only see two.” “Yeah, I ended up having to freeze one and I shattered him.” “Well there goes our last option for clues. As to what we should do other than continue on our original destination, I don't know. “Of course. But this does give us one thing,” said Arian. “Who ever did it knows we are searching for the captives and want us dead quick, so we best be careful and on full alert. We are leaving now, we're not going to wait 'till the morning. I think time is short.” As they both left, the sun sank down the horizon.
They got to the docks. They could hear the slamming and rushing of the water as it hit the pillars and washed up on the small coast. Also was the thumping and creaking of the planks of soaked wood as people walked across. There was a bustling of men and the seagulls bugled. You could smell the moisture and salt as mist from the crashing waves hit you. The golden rays of the sun were reflecting off the water in a dazzling display of natures beauty. Even so, you could tell that it was a terrible temptress and was an extremely dangerous and mysterious environment.
“Which one's ours?” asked Jacob. “Just up there to the northern side of the docks. It may be small but its all we need and its rather quick unlike those big mass transport ships.” said Arian. They quickly made their way over to the ship, which took them all of about ten minutes. They walked up to see a man with shoulder length blond hair and a great big scraggly beard standing before them in front of the boat. He had big knotted muscles and a gruff demeanor about him. His face was wrinkled and worn and had a stare of harsh past experience that could only be created from extreme hardship and physical strain. He had soaked black boots, a slightly torn white shirt with a black overcoat, but no hat.
“You must be Arian I presume?” the man said in a deep voice. Anarian nodded. “Then get yourselves on the boat. We're ready to launch and my crew is getting restless. It will be about a week before we make landfall again so you better get comfortable because there isn't no were else to go.”
They got on the boat and Arian's first impression was that this was going to be hell. The deck was dark birch wood and soaked, there was a tall crows nest, a medium sized mast. The hull was filled with rows for additional speed, or if the wind died out, or the mast was unusable. The boat felt rickety and unstable as if any at moment the vessel could just tip over and pull everyone to the crushing depths, but all the same it stayed up and did fine.
The captain started barking orders at his crew. He would yell things like, “NO ON THE PORT SIDE YOU SLIMEY BELLIED GIT”, or he would yell at someone to pull this rope or another, but very soon they were drifting off into the sea. Soon they were up to speed and could hear the splashing and slapping of the water against the hull with a loud thump as they cruised along. By that time the sun was only a small sliver of golden light and then quickly sank away.
They were thrown into complete darkness other than the amazingly bright stars that painted a beautiful picture of shining silver and blue. Every time Arian looked at the night sky, it made him wonder what the point of life was when one was so insignificant. What use were politics? What is power? How can you consider yourself powerful, important or anything of consequence when there were things so much more large and mysterious out there that could destroy you in the blink of an eye. It always humbled him to look at them.
They quickly lit oil lamps and hung them by stakes of rusted metal sticking out of the wooden walls. The glass was red so that when it hit your eyes it did not blind you in the middle of the night. Arian walked inside and then said “'Night” to Jacob and fell to his cot where he drifted off to sleep by the rocking of the boat.
Arian woke up to the usual sound of the crashing waves. He wiped the crust from his eyes, stood up and yawned. He walked out and the captain said “Ho Arian” from up top at his wheel. “Today we're going to put you and your friend Jacob to work. There ain't no one who going to be slacking on this here fine vessel if we are to make it to port on time. Go and talk to Knurlan our master dwarf over there, what it is that is needed to be done once you are ready and you have waken Long Sword. Now get to it.”
Arian grumbled to himself, walked back to the bunk room and threw a shoe at Jacob. It hit him square in the side of the face, he made a strange loud grunting snorting sound and then said, “What the 'ell was that for, you pointy eared buffoon?” “The captain said we have help out around the ship and seeing even though we paid for them to fair us across this sea, I find that it would be rude not to help anyways. So get some strong cloths on and find me. I will be with a dwarf, his name is Knurlan.”
He made his way up the deck and found the dwarf waiting for him. He had a long gold brown beard hanging down to his waist and tucked into his belt. His beard was tied about midway with a silver wire. He had a bulbous nose pocked with little dimples in it and deep set eyes as blue as the sea itself. The top of his head was starting to thin of hair and turn slightly gray, his cheeks were a little red and as with all dwarfs he was short and chunky.
“Hello there” said Knurlan with his gruff dwarfish accent. “I assume you have have been informed that I will be going over what you and your friend shall be doing on this here ship. And here he comes now.” Jacob arrived and acknowledged the dwarf with a slight grunt. “Okay, so you two are going to really just help with anything we need, such as storing ammunition for cannons, cleaning deck, lighting lamps, taking the mast up or down, getting supplies and all them good things. But first you need to take care of the ammunition and get to better know your crew. As rumors have it elves have good eye sight, better then most I guess, so I hope you can sometimes take patrol up in the crows nest. You should be able to see further through that periscope then most of us can, so that will be one of your main jobs Arian. If you have questions, ask me or the crew. Don't be afraid. And Magus please be careful not to use magic around the crew at all, they are already afraid of your presence and are weary of you.”
The days went by like that. They would eat with the crew and work with the crew. Often, as Knurlan had said Arian was taking the crows nest which he didn't mind. He got to know everyone there, memorizing their names, habits and personalities. It appeared as if every type had been crammed onto the boat, from the quiet, to comical pranksters and of course the loud obnoxious men who seemed to always be on the brink of fighting.
They all had tales of mythical monsters of the deep, and great huge boat crushing waves that could wipe out entire fleets of ships. They would have dinners with drinking alcohol followed with singing loudly, and in Arians opinion slightly annoying.
Jacob seemed to fit in like a round peg in a round hole. He too always had grandiose stories, albeit not the same as the sailor's but of epic fights and battles depicting blood and glory, of men charging up hill into ranks of blood thirsty orc's and other monstrous beings. He could keep the men spell bound with dramatic depictions of fights and amazing feats of strength and military strategy for hours. Arian did not dislike the stories but felt they were a poor depiction of the true horror of it all, of the spilled guts and lost friends - of the fear that you will not see your family again and never see the sun rise over the horizon.
It was about mid-day and clouds were gathering in the distance. Arian silently prayed that the clouds would not form into a large storm. But as they neared, about three leagues away the captain yelled, “Boys tonight is going to be rough so pray to the gods that this won't be our last.” Arian's sensitive ears could already make out the howling of the winds and the distant thunder.
There was only so little he could do with his magic to keep safe so he enchanted small invisible barriers around him and the crew hoping that they could mitigate the force. But as they entered the storms gaping maw the wind suddenly assailed them with amazing torrent of fury. The shields were all that kept them from being tossed around like rag dolls, you could hear the loud grown of the hull as it made its way through the blasting winds and fifteen foot waves. The water that flew over the deck hit them like brick walls taking the air out of Arian's lungs for a moment. Men were shouting and the captain was shouting orders louder, people were scrambling. Arian dared not help because it took all his concentration just to keep the shields from collapsing.
He heard a low rumbling noise and chills raced up his spine, then his eyes widened with horror and his mouth fell open. Splayed before them was a god like monstrous kracken the size of a keep coming out of the water, it's tentacles were longer than anything Arian had ever seen with huge suction cups on them. It had lots of big beady eyes and a gaping mouth, Arian gave his final prayers and prepared for a battle he knew they had very little chance of winning.
This post has been edited by ryker: 23 September 2009 - 09:09 PM
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