#februaryday32024

There was no myth in this mystery. It had been all too true. Tinnaire turned the skull in her hands, tongue-tip at the back of her teeth and her eyes narrowed in thought. She shifted on her work stool and her ears flicked slightly to catch the creaking. Dust motes floated through the last of the light and her own breath was the only thing to stir them. She considered her subject again with a sigh. 

Runes had been carved into the cranium, beautiful but brutal work. And though no soot had remained for many years, Tinnaire could see where fire had caused webbed cracks through the back of the skull. Some teeth had been lost, but tusks remained deeply seated in the mandibles, curling back towards the eye sockets. This was not her usual work. And those weren’t her usual clients. Not a piece of art destined for wall or mounting. They had wanted function. Divination magic drawn from shadows. A catalyst for transmutations. And a subtle secret death. Drust.

The blonde elf stared at the skull of the brambleboar. It looked back with empty, lifeless holes. It was motionless, no longer animated with magic and malice. No longer a beast to ravage a village, terror in wicker. Once, she’d made similar mistakes for similar reasons. She set the skull on the table. It was heavier than it looked. Her fingertips traced over long-healed scars on her thigh. Her own demons had been quite literal, once. A bad bargain for all of them.

February 20, 2024 Daily Writing Challenge Bargain/Myth

CW: Implied domestic violence, implied murder

A knock rapped at the gnarled front door to the tree that Yserina had shaped into her home. That, in itself, was unusual enough to pique her interest — she’d purposefully chosen a spot more than an hour’s hike on foot from Bel’ameth to settle. It was important that anyone who wanted to visit make the commitment to do so. 

She shot a suspicious glance at Fiore; the Sin’dorei girl had taken a jaunt back to civilization for a day before returning. The way she’d curled up to sleep on a pad of furs and moss in the corner highlighted her thin, threadbare frame. Surely no one was looking for her.

The knock came again, and Yserina sighed before pushing herself to stand, her old bones creaking the same way the great young tree’s branches did in a gust of west wind off the sea. The door opened for her, moving aside before she even had to touch it, and she took a moment to regard the interloper on the porch. 

DWC- Day 3- Bargain/ Myth

He had recently awoken, the lingering venom coursing through his veins, though its potency seemed diminished, as if countered by an antidote. Leo lay still, devoid of the strength even to shift his gaze around the room.

Bang, bang. He jerked in surprise. A voice, loud and filled with anger, reverberated through the space, striking every wall with its forceful presence.

Bang BANG.

Another involuntary twitch. His brain seemed to thrash against the confines of his skull, the sensation worsening with each passing moment as the overly excited voice persisted.

What were we talking about? Why the yelling? Can everything just stop existing for a moment?

A torrent of burning questions raced through his paralyzed mind as he struggled to compose himself, helpless and at the mercy of those surrounding him. The voice continued to yell, its words echoing loudly. "I trusted her with you!" it reverberated in his ears, cutting through the turmoil in his thoughts.

Oh, right. That's what we were talking about.

It had to cease—all of it. The agony, the anguish of his loved ones, the relentless sound.

"I won't see her anymore..." Leo spoke weakly.

A wave of shock rippled through the room. Leo understood the gravity of the situation, the significance of relinquishing this particular beloved, who held a special place in his heart. Yet, he was prepared to sacrifice anything to alleviate the suffering of those around him, especially Trist, the voice's owner.

"Are you sure...?" the question came hesitantly from Trist. "I am sure." Leo responded.

It wasn't a falsehood. Leo was certain he would sacrifice anything for his partner—certain that nothing was worth causing them distress. Yet, he understood it would come at a cost, though he hadn't fully comprehended what that might entail just yet.

“I know its worth, I had them appraised by the Dalaran Jeweler before I came down there.  Do not skimp me”  Her voice was eerie, kissed by the void.  

“Lady, then go sell it up there.  You came down the sewers you gotta deal with bargain prices.  We however will not rat you out or send you back to whatever place you came from.”  The goblin looked up at the heavily cloth woman.  Pitch-black eyes stared him down, his skin wanted to crawl.  Yet Reimply kept his composer.  Played right, he would never have to come down to these sewers again.  Could even open the hotel he always dreamed up. 

“Offer me a high price or I am taking them all back.”  The noble runaway demanded,  her bone-white hands reaching out to snatch away jewelry she stole from her family.  Her fingers burned blacked, and ink from the burn seemed to crawl up her hands to her wrists.   

“No, no, we can talk, we can talk,”  Reimply replied suddenly bewitched by the elf.  

Current day:

Resting on the beach, Ziorea calculated her current funds.  Coppery skin glowing with health, toes buried into the sand, the elf was at peace.   

She had a while before she would have to worry about working.  A few ideas for jobs floating around in her thoughts.   From model to monster hunter her list grew long.   As long as monsters were not a myth, she kind of liked that idea.  Even circled it twice. 

(Note: this is a lead-in to tomorrow's post, and the woman in the post below is not Ellissay but a female NPC character to advance the story. Thank you for reading!)

One could smell the damp smell of the earth. The woman couldn't hear anything but the moans of perhaps a few others and a chain rattle as somebody seemed to pace in another cell. The cold had seeped deep into her skin long ago, leaving her shivering to the point her teeth rattled. She had tried to find warmth, but the thin, bare, tattered blanket did little.

How had she gotten here? Who had taken her and why?

A hooded man, his face in the shadows, moves toward her cell. She knows him by the sound of his boots on the stone floor. He comes every day but never speaks a word. Today, she is so weak she can barely lift her head, her voice a hoarse whisper. "Please. Why have you taken me? If you're looking for gold, I can help you obtain it. Whatever it is, we can figure it out. Just let me out. Please!" The last word comes out in an almost shriek of desperation.

Her pleas, however, are met with the usual silence, and the hooded male walks away, his steps slowly fading into the background, leaving the only sound of those suffering like herself and the grating sound of that dragged chain.

She is not sure how much time has passed. Days and nights blur into each other. The dried old bread tossed through the window bars did little to curb her hunger and was so tough she could barely chew it. The water was cloudy and tepid, but she had no choice but to drink it, though half the time it made her retch, and it would just come back up.

She prayed daily that somebody would come to save her. Her family, maybe a friend, anyone. But she had begun to lose hope. Tears roll down her cheeks, spilling onto her now-tattered dress. Alone and scared, she knew she would die here.

To be continued…

Guilt followed her for days. She knew she had to tell him, but how was she to even begin? The weight was heavy upon her, and while she could hide it from most people, he knew her better than most.

"Zaria, darling, what is going on with you?" he asked. Teremath came to her, placing his hands upon her shoulders. "You've been reclusive, and quiet."

"Nothing, Darling. I'm fine." Zaria said as 'normal' as she could muster. However, it wasn't done well for him to believe it.

"You aren't usually like this." His eyes were full of concern. It was those red eyes that looked at her with such care and concern that she caved easily.

"Please forgive me.." SHe whispered softly. The weak walls she had put up were now crumbling entirely. "I didn't mean to-" Lithe fingers came to rest over her lips as she closed her eyes tightly. "I didn't think I'd ever see him again, and it just happened-" Her remorse was visible. Gone was her stoic form where her shoulders were held back and her head high. Before her mate she stood there with her entire form caving into itself. The epitome of remorse.

Teremath stood there, silently. Rage was felt beneath the surface of his skin and yet he kept his cool. "I see.." The spoken words were said cooly, calmly, just as he always spoke.

"I'm sorry-" There was more she wished to say, but the words couldn't even come to her. All she could do in the moment was rest her hands upon his chest and peer up at him with such pain.

"When?" He asked, that same cool and calm voice flowing effortlessly.

"A week ago." She said without hesitation. "I didn't think it was possible. If he wasn't my fiance before you-I would have never-" The words were so hard to come by right now.

Teremath stood there, much on his mind. Despite hearing of her infidelity, he lifted a hand to rest it upon her cheek.

"I would never offer myself like this, but if it would please you, to show my remorse-" A pleading gaze came over her. She couldn't believe the words she was about to utter to him. "I-I will submit to you, and your whims. Anything you wish, or desire."

This seemed to be enough for him, for his hand came to weave into her hair and grip her behind her neck tenderly. "Then promise you won't do it again." The hurt was easy to hear in his voice, to see in his eyes.

"Just sign here." Once her signature was finished, Kai could not help but smile. With the tavern doing so well, and the fact that Zel'jka was ready to run the tavern when Kai had other businesses to see too. And in signing these papers, Kai was finally allowed to start another path in her life.

After weeks of bargaining, the land was finally hers. Now Kai could start working on rebuilding the lands around the simple house that rests there.

But it would not be a home for her, it would become a place for people to come seek a place to rest, or aid. Today, her non profit organization would finally have a place to really settle.

So many ideas flood her thoughts as she walked out of the office. Now she needed to travel to the land she had just bought and get to work on some plans for what she wanted to do. Thankfully she could travel between Ratchet and Silvermoon easy enough.

After spending two days writing up plans, Kai finally made it back to Ratchet. Zel'jka got onto her about working so hard. "Ya need a break woman!"

Kai laughs softly, "You and everyone else keeps telling me this. But I enjoy the work. Now, go see your family. I will cover tonight's shift." She shoos Zel off before the woman could protest anymore.

After tying her hair back, Kai walked out of the kitchen. She kept telling herself, she would take a few days off. But deep down she knew it would be hard to do.

She enjoyed keeping busy, finding that she found an odd peace in keeping herself busy. In away it kept her mind off the dinner she had with Dice coming up.

Demonology cut into her late on the Path, the study netting her now as it should have so many years ago when she had called her first imp from the Nether Reaches. Her aim had been different in those days, as different as she was now in the flesh. Vaguely, she could recall the wisps of anger from some forgotten corridor of memory, some betrayal she could no longer source. Such slight vibrations of memory that could have easily been the old slivers of soul from entities she had collectively taken through the years.

It would be sensible to think of these alien fragments as pieces to mold to her own identity and accept them as such, but speaking the words did not always fit them conveniently into the mind, the heart, the fractured soul. Stolen life and memory without a vital component of experience never seemed the very normal transition of growth, no matter how appearances could deceive.