Aquizit
07-19-2007, 08:22 AM
PART 1
July 17 -
To those who read this I say this:
This is the record I started keeping upon my induction into the Blood Brigade.. a "gift" I found when I explored the ruins of my home. If you can call it that, anyway. A blank, black leather tome, untouched save for a few scorch marks over many of the singed pages. I can't imagine who left it there, as my father wasn't one to leave useless items around. No.. he had a drive that wouldn't permit idle creatures or things. It's where my brother gets his insatiable manner. My mother, however... yes, she might have had this for reasons never spoken to me.. or the rest of our family. She did always prefer the beauty of the simple things though, such as an unmarred book like this, able to be filled with whatever her imagination desired. She used to be one of the rangers under Sylvanas' command stationed by the outer Waygate. Needless to say, it's not hard to remember what happened to her..
... I don't wish to write about it.
Yes, enough of the past... that's not what this is for. I decided to write a journal.. or "prissy little diary" as Aquizit likes to put it. No.. my brother does not like to even risk his emotions and thoughts being discovered by another. It doesn't fit into his "plans" he says.
Plans.. plans that I get sucked into, joining his little militia army. He spouts ideals such as protecting Silvermoon.. being the influence of the Blood Elf as a people in the outside world.. meaning south of the Plaguelands. Envoys to the Horde. I hope Sahena knows better. She's in charge of the Brigade now.. and she's a priestess I respect deep in my core. Her kindness knows no bounds.. and it was her compassion that kept me from tearing off my tabard many times in disgust. But I wonder, sometimes, if she knows what my brother plots. He still controls, to an extent.. using his pull through Sahena to guide the militia to his wants and needs. She respects him greatly.. finds him a leader that the blood elves lack of late. It's true.. he has charisma.. and he knows how to rally people to his cause.
But what is charisma.. but a fancy word for manipulation?
I dare not reveal what he plots yet, since even now.. I feel some sort of loyalty to him, no matter his devious plans.. traitorous to some. But also, it may be the salvation of our people, those who have not been corrupted below civil means already anyway. It's why I'm in the Brigade in the first place.. loyalty and a -- a "debt" he says I owe him due to my eye.
My eye. "Fire-Eye."
After the destruction of Dalaran his mentor vanished.. assumingly lost in the attack, I'm not sure. He turned to Fel after the fall, as many did.. finding his lust for power and magic satiated by the green deathly energies that ripped through Kael'thas' portal. Unlike many, however, his will seemed to bend the powers to his mastery, and to this day he can summon the more powerful demons to his side, broken and enslaved to his will. But before that, he was still trying to master the Shadow as it was on Azeroth before tearing the boundries to pull the more potent Fel to his hands. He learned to pull the minds and souls from small creatures first.. then the Wretched, finally Alliance soldiers who we all once called allies and friends. He condensed their essence into small purple shards like I've never seen before. An erie unatural light always seemed to glow from them while at the same time natural energy seemed to be sucked within, like air through a straw. Condensed artificial life.. even now it shakes me to the core, as it's a part of me still.
I write this.. but my hand shakes. My deformity, my gift... I wouldn't be able to do what I do without it. But I feel it pull at me, trying to use my own essence to fuel it. I won't let it. There's too much to do still.. not yet.. In any case. He would practice his targeting on me when I wasn't paying attention, and I had no sense as to what he was doing most of the time.. I have an issue sensing magic, unlike many many blood elves. I was never one for the arcane arts. One of my defects, according to him.. one of the reasons I should thank him for allowing me to remain dependant on him. It makes me sick sometimes, but he is my brother all the same.. and I owe him my support as the last Head of House. Although some say I'd be better off slaying him while he sleeps.
He's too smart for that.. too corrupted.
It was early spring when I strayed across his training against one of the weaker Scourge agents he managed to entrap. It legs were broken as to not be a huge threat, but of course.. I didn't know what was going on. I never did. I entered into his chambers to mention I was heading into the ruins to search through the house, to see if anything of value was left of our parents.. our home. I never muttered a word -- as soon as I drifted inside a pain shot through my cheek... into my eye, and I felt it.. deep in my skull. A scream like no other, unworldly and terrifying as it rattled through my brain, ripping through my own soul and causing terror and a scream like I never knew possible tearing through my own throat. Aquizit stood, I think for a moment, horrified at first as he had never tested his powers on another blood elf, but still through my blurred and askewed vision I saw his lips curled up into a smirk. He rushed across the room, forcing me to the floor as I screamed still, writhing in the indescribable pain. He muttered something I couldn't understand, but his outstreched fingers reached out near where my left eye once was, and with a silent gesture, I felt the ... being sucked out through my body.. and there was silence.
I moaned in agony, I think.. or so he tells me, trying to clutch my eye. I'm sure I was delerious with pain at that point.. and apparently blood poured onto the carpet, as it's still stained to this day. Not crimson like you'd think. No... an ugly black, like it came from something else. I shiver when I see it still. Quickly and impatiently, Aquizit thrust a hand into his own robes, pulling out one of this crystals. I remember struggling, afraid of what would become of me if he was using one of his condensed souls again. He slapped me then, hard, muttering about not appreciating help when it's offered and I saw his eyes, noticing for the first time how they were turning a pale green, narrow in concentration. His fingers roamed over the crystal, and the soul molded and condensed further, glowing a deeper purple, and finally red as it shrunk and became more dense with life. He smiled at his creation, and thrust it into my empty eye-socket.
My back arched as the fire burned back through my body, and I screamed again I'm sure.. feeling this other soul fuse itself into my blood and body. I was assaulted with thoughts, most of which overwhelmed me in the chaos, although sometimes I still get a flash at the being's old life. A dwarf, apparently.. a warrior.. It's where Aquizit says I get my "stubbornly ignorant" viewpoints. Although I think he's referring to my sense of honor and loyalty when he says it. He held my eye shut as I squirmed, making sure the foreign object would attach to my body, only letting go when he said.. "Your souls have connected." and he rose off of me. The pain was still there, although the fire was a dull rumble in my head now. I risked opening my eyes and glanced feebly up at my brother, and gasped at what I saw.
He stood there, smirking over me.. obviously admiring his handiwork. I saw his smugness.. but then I saw something else. It was like an overlaying feature.. this glow about him. I blinked I'm sure.. trying to understand what I noticed. It clicked suddenly, as I closed the new eye.. it vanished, and if I closed my remaining eye and looked through my .. "gift" .. I saw nothing but the outline of him. A glowing brightest at the center of his body, becoming fainter and dissipating as it outlined his form. I noticed then, I remember.. a pale green.. the same in his eyes, slowly pulsing in his core, although at the time I was too ignorant to understand what it was.
I opened both my eyes with shock. "Your soul... I see it."
Aquizit's smirk disappeared, and his eyes too widened in surprise. I smirked inwardly then. I had surprised him, and that was a victory I would take, thank you. He knelt down again, and I flinched, fearing he'd rip what was his back from me, now that he knew what it was capable of. He didn't.. he just stared deep into the false orb, studying it, trying to read its power.
"Of course you do.." he muttered finally, "of course a soul can sense other souls. Even a fool would think of that when presented with the situation." He rose, now looking unimpressed. "Next time, though.. don't interrupt my training. Get out."
His voice dripped irritation and malice, and quickly I brought myself upright, leaving the room.
I felt overwhelmed.. still feeling the thoughts and memories of the life now attached to mine bleeding into my thoughts every now and again. I rested for who knows how long.. and after that.. I tried to go about my business without incident. Getting used to the souls I would see of my fellow elves, and even the trees and animals outside in Eversong. Things progressed uneventfully for awhile after that.
Until the Horde envoys arrived.
They were sent by Sylvanas apparently, accompanied by the stories of the Forsaken.. those who were free from the Scourge. They were met with aggression at first, of course.. although it seems it is understood we need some sort of friend in this world.. and Sylvanas' name still carries great weight with the survivors of the Third War. Even so.. I noticed the change in attitude after they came.. more ambitious blood elves began to roam the woods and southern Ghostlands, trying to find their place in the world as it was now. Some even going as envoys themselves to the Horde cities.
I had heard the rumors in the streets of the captured being.. noticed the new... Blood Knights, as they were called roaming the streets.. saw the fights between the old order of Farstriders and new order of false paladins.
I feared the change.. dreading the next war as the muttering of the public seemed so sure was coming. The orc's and human's hostilities were brewing again.. and with the humans already tense with us.. and the orcs in our towns and cities.. we would be drawn in for sure.
Then Aquizit pounced.. took the confusion and worry and opportunity to grow his talents and power.. to extend his influence out to the waiting ... changed world. He gathered a number of confused.. willing blood elves, pronouncing revenge, security.. and magic. He promised relations with our new allies, even though we weren't even accepted yet by Thrall and the Horde. He promised a defense against both the Scourge, and the Alliance that had turned their back on us. He promised blood for the treachery that had befallen us by Garithos and the humans.
And they walked right into his hands.. and he dragged me along with him.
So here we are.. the Blood Brigade.
And these are the memiors of one of them..
The Fire-Eye.
July 17 -
To those who read this I say this:
This is the record I started keeping upon my induction into the Blood Brigade.. a "gift" I found when I explored the ruins of my home. If you can call it that, anyway. A blank, black leather tome, untouched save for a few scorch marks over many of the singed pages. I can't imagine who left it there, as my father wasn't one to leave useless items around. No.. he had a drive that wouldn't permit idle creatures or things. It's where my brother gets his insatiable manner. My mother, however... yes, she might have had this for reasons never spoken to me.. or the rest of our family. She did always prefer the beauty of the simple things though, such as an unmarred book like this, able to be filled with whatever her imagination desired. She used to be one of the rangers under Sylvanas' command stationed by the outer Waygate. Needless to say, it's not hard to remember what happened to her..
... I don't wish to write about it.
Yes, enough of the past... that's not what this is for. I decided to write a journal.. or "prissy little diary" as Aquizit likes to put it. No.. my brother does not like to even risk his emotions and thoughts being discovered by another. It doesn't fit into his "plans" he says.
Plans.. plans that I get sucked into, joining his little militia army. He spouts ideals such as protecting Silvermoon.. being the influence of the Blood Elf as a people in the outside world.. meaning south of the Plaguelands. Envoys to the Horde. I hope Sahena knows better. She's in charge of the Brigade now.. and she's a priestess I respect deep in my core. Her kindness knows no bounds.. and it was her compassion that kept me from tearing off my tabard many times in disgust. But I wonder, sometimes, if she knows what my brother plots. He still controls, to an extent.. using his pull through Sahena to guide the militia to his wants and needs. She respects him greatly.. finds him a leader that the blood elves lack of late. It's true.. he has charisma.. and he knows how to rally people to his cause.
But what is charisma.. but a fancy word for manipulation?
I dare not reveal what he plots yet, since even now.. I feel some sort of loyalty to him, no matter his devious plans.. traitorous to some. But also, it may be the salvation of our people, those who have not been corrupted below civil means already anyway. It's why I'm in the Brigade in the first place.. loyalty and a -- a "debt" he says I owe him due to my eye.
My eye. "Fire-Eye."
After the destruction of Dalaran his mentor vanished.. assumingly lost in the attack, I'm not sure. He turned to Fel after the fall, as many did.. finding his lust for power and magic satiated by the green deathly energies that ripped through Kael'thas' portal. Unlike many, however, his will seemed to bend the powers to his mastery, and to this day he can summon the more powerful demons to his side, broken and enslaved to his will. But before that, he was still trying to master the Shadow as it was on Azeroth before tearing the boundries to pull the more potent Fel to his hands. He learned to pull the minds and souls from small creatures first.. then the Wretched, finally Alliance soldiers who we all once called allies and friends. He condensed their essence into small purple shards like I've never seen before. An erie unatural light always seemed to glow from them while at the same time natural energy seemed to be sucked within, like air through a straw. Condensed artificial life.. even now it shakes me to the core, as it's a part of me still.
I write this.. but my hand shakes. My deformity, my gift... I wouldn't be able to do what I do without it. But I feel it pull at me, trying to use my own essence to fuel it. I won't let it. There's too much to do still.. not yet.. In any case. He would practice his targeting on me when I wasn't paying attention, and I had no sense as to what he was doing most of the time.. I have an issue sensing magic, unlike many many blood elves. I was never one for the arcane arts. One of my defects, according to him.. one of the reasons I should thank him for allowing me to remain dependant on him. It makes me sick sometimes, but he is my brother all the same.. and I owe him my support as the last Head of House. Although some say I'd be better off slaying him while he sleeps.
He's too smart for that.. too corrupted.
It was early spring when I strayed across his training against one of the weaker Scourge agents he managed to entrap. It legs were broken as to not be a huge threat, but of course.. I didn't know what was going on. I never did. I entered into his chambers to mention I was heading into the ruins to search through the house, to see if anything of value was left of our parents.. our home. I never muttered a word -- as soon as I drifted inside a pain shot through my cheek... into my eye, and I felt it.. deep in my skull. A scream like no other, unworldly and terrifying as it rattled through my brain, ripping through my own soul and causing terror and a scream like I never knew possible tearing through my own throat. Aquizit stood, I think for a moment, horrified at first as he had never tested his powers on another blood elf, but still through my blurred and askewed vision I saw his lips curled up into a smirk. He rushed across the room, forcing me to the floor as I screamed still, writhing in the indescribable pain. He muttered something I couldn't understand, but his outstreched fingers reached out near where my left eye once was, and with a silent gesture, I felt the ... being sucked out through my body.. and there was silence.
I moaned in agony, I think.. or so he tells me, trying to clutch my eye. I'm sure I was delerious with pain at that point.. and apparently blood poured onto the carpet, as it's still stained to this day. Not crimson like you'd think. No... an ugly black, like it came from something else. I shiver when I see it still. Quickly and impatiently, Aquizit thrust a hand into his own robes, pulling out one of this crystals. I remember struggling, afraid of what would become of me if he was using one of his condensed souls again. He slapped me then, hard, muttering about not appreciating help when it's offered and I saw his eyes, noticing for the first time how they were turning a pale green, narrow in concentration. His fingers roamed over the crystal, and the soul molded and condensed further, glowing a deeper purple, and finally red as it shrunk and became more dense with life. He smiled at his creation, and thrust it into my empty eye-socket.
My back arched as the fire burned back through my body, and I screamed again I'm sure.. feeling this other soul fuse itself into my blood and body. I was assaulted with thoughts, most of which overwhelmed me in the chaos, although sometimes I still get a flash at the being's old life. A dwarf, apparently.. a warrior.. It's where Aquizit says I get my "stubbornly ignorant" viewpoints. Although I think he's referring to my sense of honor and loyalty when he says it. He held my eye shut as I squirmed, making sure the foreign object would attach to my body, only letting go when he said.. "Your souls have connected." and he rose off of me. The pain was still there, although the fire was a dull rumble in my head now. I risked opening my eyes and glanced feebly up at my brother, and gasped at what I saw.
He stood there, smirking over me.. obviously admiring his handiwork. I saw his smugness.. but then I saw something else. It was like an overlaying feature.. this glow about him. I blinked I'm sure.. trying to understand what I noticed. It clicked suddenly, as I closed the new eye.. it vanished, and if I closed my remaining eye and looked through my .. "gift" .. I saw nothing but the outline of him. A glowing brightest at the center of his body, becoming fainter and dissipating as it outlined his form. I noticed then, I remember.. a pale green.. the same in his eyes, slowly pulsing in his core, although at the time I was too ignorant to understand what it was.
I opened both my eyes with shock. "Your soul... I see it."
Aquizit's smirk disappeared, and his eyes too widened in surprise. I smirked inwardly then. I had surprised him, and that was a victory I would take, thank you. He knelt down again, and I flinched, fearing he'd rip what was his back from me, now that he knew what it was capable of. He didn't.. he just stared deep into the false orb, studying it, trying to read its power.
"Of course you do.." he muttered finally, "of course a soul can sense other souls. Even a fool would think of that when presented with the situation." He rose, now looking unimpressed. "Next time, though.. don't interrupt my training. Get out."
His voice dripped irritation and malice, and quickly I brought myself upright, leaving the room.
I felt overwhelmed.. still feeling the thoughts and memories of the life now attached to mine bleeding into my thoughts every now and again. I rested for who knows how long.. and after that.. I tried to go about my business without incident. Getting used to the souls I would see of my fellow elves, and even the trees and animals outside in Eversong. Things progressed uneventfully for awhile after that.
Until the Horde envoys arrived.
They were sent by Sylvanas apparently, accompanied by the stories of the Forsaken.. those who were free from the Scourge. They were met with aggression at first, of course.. although it seems it is understood we need some sort of friend in this world.. and Sylvanas' name still carries great weight with the survivors of the Third War. Even so.. I noticed the change in attitude after they came.. more ambitious blood elves began to roam the woods and southern Ghostlands, trying to find their place in the world as it was now. Some even going as envoys themselves to the Horde cities.
I had heard the rumors in the streets of the captured being.. noticed the new... Blood Knights, as they were called roaming the streets.. saw the fights between the old order of Farstriders and new order of false paladins.
I feared the change.. dreading the next war as the muttering of the public seemed so sure was coming. The orc's and human's hostilities were brewing again.. and with the humans already tense with us.. and the orcs in our towns and cities.. we would be drawn in for sure.
Then Aquizit pounced.. took the confusion and worry and opportunity to grow his talents and power.. to extend his influence out to the waiting ... changed world. He gathered a number of confused.. willing blood elves, pronouncing revenge, security.. and magic. He promised relations with our new allies, even though we weren't even accepted yet by Thrall and the Horde. He promised a defense against both the Scourge, and the Alliance that had turned their back on us. He promised blood for the treachery that had befallen us by Garithos and the humans.
And they walked right into his hands.. and he dragged me along with him.
So here we are.. the Blood Brigade.
And these are the memiors of one of them..
The Fire-Eye.