Top Posts Tagged with #pt.vi

Returning Home

(Following [The Not-So-Dead] & [Strangers and Old Habits])

The walk from Stormwind to the cabin on the far side of Elwynn was a bittersweet feeling of familiar. The light-hearted conversation passed the time as Kat occasionally glanced at the dagger Riley carried, careful not to be obvious with her wandering eyes. Odell, as always, napped in the treeline at the end of the clearing. The fox lifted his head to inspect the pair as they approached the front porch, huffing as he curled up again. Kat paused as she began to open the door, staring at the handle in her hand with a nervous breath before forcing it open. The home was still in disarray. The level of dust had grown since Riley's last visit. Slowly Kat stepped into the main room, her eyes sweeping over the mess in silence.

"Can I get you that drink?" Riley offered from the doorway as she unshouldered her bag.

"More like a bottle," Kat muttered as she kicked an empty glass on the floor with her boot. With another anxious breath, she pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes closed. "Wot a fuckin' mess..."

Riley retrieved two bottles from her bag with a small grin, holding each by the neck in either hand. "I've got ya covered there," she mused, stowing one of the bottles in the crook of her opposite arm so she could deal a reassuring squeeze to Kat's shoulder with the free hand. "And it's nothing that can't be fixed, yeah?"

Kat mirrored the smile, weak as it was, as she glanced over at Riley before eying the bottles. "Ya've never disappointed, luv'."

She leans down to pluck an empty bottle from the floor to deposit into a waste bin on her way into the kitchen, the resulting 'clunk' seeming to echo through the otherwise quiet home.

Moving into the center of the room, Kat watched Riley make her way towards the kitchen in the far corner, an empty bottle plucked from the floor along the way, and dropped into the waste bin, resulting in a 'clank' which echoed in the cabin.

"It's no' about that, it's just—" Kat let out another heavy exhale, nudging and empty bottle on the floor with her boot. "—yeah, the place can be fixed. But can I? I hardly remember any of this. It's all flashes like a skipping record. What I remember most was the feeling of being empty, and how intoxicating it was as I drowned m'self in whiskey and azerite."

"I think," Riley paused, uncorking one of the bottles, "after everything you've been through, the fact that you're even standing there, to begin with, is proof enough that you've got what it takes to get there - where ever 'there' is." A gentle shrug was offered, but not in any dismissive way - her tone was genuine, as was the sentiment behind it. "I can't imagine what that must have been like." She shook her head gently, taking a cloth to the two cleanest glasses she could find. "And I'm not gonna try. But I gotta wonder what it was that led you there, to begin with..." The question is gently probing but understandably pointed.

"An Old God," Kat answered in a monotone, "by the time I knew it was too late. I took lives, traded pieces of m'self for power. It's funny because the subtly and level of manipulation makes me feel... Envious?" Kat dropped into the seat, pushing several depleted azerite crystals and shards from the couch to the floor. Thinking, only for a brief moment, if she too could achieve such a subtle level of manipulation. "I can't undo some of th' things I've done, the people I've hurt."

"Ah. Right." Riley nodded, knocking back the contents of her glass before refilling it immediately. She takes the other glass by hooking a finger into the rim to carry in-hand with the bottle, pausing to drop the glass off on the coffee table. "I could sit here and feed you the whole 'It gets easier with time' bullshit, but you and I both know that's all the line is." She offers this as a gentle tease, though there's some obvious truth in the statement. "What I can say is if there's anyone that can find a way to navigate that path, it's you. Never known you to back down from a challenge, doubt that'll change anytime soon." She adds the last bit with a hint of a familiar smirk, helping herself to a healthy pull from her glass.

"Too stubborn for m'own good sometimes," Kat added with a faint smirk of her own. "Challenge is wot started the who mess, but I appreciate the sentiment all th'same." Scooping up the glass, she quickly knocked back the contents, holding out the empty vessel for a refill. Pulling her eyes from the mess littering the floor, Kat looked to Riley.

"And you?" She gently probed. "I sat on the roof across from your shop every Wednesday, watching the dust collect on the windows."

After refilling Kat's glass Riley slumped onto the couch, ignoring the dust that flew into a plume around her, focusing instead on her drink. "I thought about that," she murmured, huffing a sigh as the weight of Kat's words settled onto her shoulders. "About the fact that you had no way of knowing what happened, and I had no way of telling you." With another large swig from the glass, Riley paused, setting her gaze on the amber contents as the drink was gently swirled.

"I know I told you my family was all dead - that I'd lost them all before I came to live in Stormwind. That's not true. I've got a brother. The kind of brother you grow up never talking about - not even with those closest to you." Riley sat forward in her seat, pursing her lips to the side for a moment as she looked up to meet Kat's gaze. "I've got something he wants, as it turns out. And while the 'what' and the 'why' of it all is lost on me, it took him a long time to figure out that I wasn't lying every time I said I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about."

She rolled her shoulders in a shrug, a pained attempt at a smile taking residence on her features. "I'm sorry I put you through that. I really am."

"I could have helped..." Kat spoke above a whisper, leaning forward and placing a hand on Riley's arm. "I didn't know where t'look or where t'start, but I wanted anything and everything to help." Exhaling out a sigh of her own, Kat took a generous swig from the glass and sank back against the cushion.

"And I'm sorry I put you through the same. As we agreed, though, never again." Her foot nudged Riley's leg, and the faintest of smirks touched her lips. "Where is he now? Will he be a problem again? Is there anything I can do?"

"We didn't exactly part on good terms," Riley paused for a split second. "I imagine he'll reach out again at some point, but I doubt he'll go about it in the same way. I can give you enough information for one of your files, that way you'll know where to start if it turns out he is foolish enough to pull that shit again." She met Kat's gaze then, reclining back into her seat with as relaxed a sigh as she could manage. "I should have told you about him a long time ago. Just one of those things I thought I could bury and forget about until it simply... faded into obscurity, y'know?" A chuckle rumbled within her throat at the thought.

"Anything is better than nothin'. The file can wait until another time. But if he dares touch ya' again, I'll bury my blade in him. Personally." The signature tone of a threat hung in Kat's voice as she looked towards the cold hearth. Killing the last of her whiskey and shaking her head as she promptly refilled the glass. "I know th' feelin', of ignorin' and tryin' to forget about something. Pushin' it deep and hopin' it becomes obscure and lost t'time. Take from me, luv', that shit just doesn' work." In a blink, her eyes shifted back to Riley.

"I'm sorry ya' had t'see all this." A finger lifted from the glass to indicate the cabin which sat in disarray. "This is where ya' found—" Kat nearly choked on her words in the abrupt pause. "—her?"

"I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to start this conversation, so I'm glad you're the one to bring it up," Riley paused to empty her drink down the back of her throat. Setting the glass aside before her hand fell to the hilt of the dagger, Kat had been eyeing all evening and removed its encasing sheath from her hip.

"Ya' know me. Right t'the point." Kat tried to joke, the fake smile faltering in a pained expression as Riley removed the dagger.

The backs of Riley's wrists rested against her knees, the sheathed dagger draped across open palms, brow furrowed with inner conflict she didn't even try to hide as she looked down at the dagger and then back up to Kat, who eyed the blade with apparent anxiety and shifted in her seat. The nail of her forefinger dug into the side of her thumb, hard enough to draw a drop of blood. The lower lip was tugged inward by teeth, and breath hitched as a lump in Kat's throat. Water welled in the eyes, and she had to look away.

"She's still alive, then?"

Riley's dark brows pulled a little tighter together, and her voice was hesitant in tone when she finally did speak up a moment later. "Do you... remember what happened?" Her uncertainty appears honest, as does her desire to tread carefully. "Any of it..?"

Kat winced. Face scrunching as lips were curled inward, shifting in anxiously again in her seat, one arm wrapping tightly around her core, still looking away towards the bedroom door. "Wot—" Kat's voice broke, she cleared her throat and tried again. "—Do ya' know? Wot did she say?" With a trembling lower lip, she hesitantly looked towards Riley again, locking their eyes together. The pain and guilt ran deep into Kat's core, and she couldn't hide it.

"Enough to understand why you're looking at me like that..." it was meant to be a gentle jab - an attempt at levity -, but there was no denying the seriousness of what they were about to get into. "I may have coaxed more information out of her than she wanted to give, but you know what they say about old habits. Whatever you're still holding onto that's making you anxious about what I'm thinking - you can go right ahead and let go of it. I'm not here to judge." Riley shook her head. "And whatever happened between the two of you - despite what happened between you - you should know that she's been desperate to find you this whole time. I couldn't have done it without her help - she's been my guide through all of it, really."

Kat's nervous twitches continued as Riley spoke, her thumbnail now raking across the fingertips, pausing at each one to pick at the skin. "It wasn't me...not completely." She finally breathes out in a shaky voice. "Towards the end, memories become patchy. I've been worried, afraid she didn't survive." Reaching for the bottle, she inhaled a gulp of whiskey from the container directly. "I know that regardless of wot I say, I can't make it right."

"No one's asking you to," Riley offers gently, pausing her thought with a sigh. "Least, not either of us - I can only speak honestly about the things I know, and I imagine that's just a drop in the bucket with all you've dealt with, but you've still got folks in your corner. You don't have to go through it alone." Reaching out across the space between them, Riley places her hand atop Kat's.

"I know..." Kat whispers between gulps of whiskey. Her hand stopped the nervous twitch. Instead, her fingers were gently gliding across Riley's. "Thank you..."

A moment of heavy silence hung between them before Riley gently spoke. "Do... do you want to talk to her?"

Kat looked anxiously towards the dagger, unsure what to expect. A fight, empty apologies, bitterness, acceptance. The overwhelming pressure was enough to warrant another massive gulp of whiskey.

"Do ya' think I should?"

"I do," Riley affirms, offering a nod. With that, Riley takes hold of the blade within its sheath, breaking contact with the hilt after a small hesitation to hand it out for Kat to take. "I know she's desperate to hear your voice again..."

An amused huff broke the guilty expression as Kat shook her head, biting her lip again as she glanced down at the dagger. With a deep breath to calm the nerves, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around the handle of the blade.

#ic #plotlines #redemption #pt.VI #Leather & Whiskey #AlyKat

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Desuetude

(Following [Opprobrium])

The carriage continued to race through the inverted Gilnean city streets as the world beyond the windows continued to bend and fold within itself. The non-euclidean landscape shifting every minute as buildings seamlessly tore apart and melded together, cobblestone streets an ever-changing labyrinth. No matter how many abrupt turns the carriage took, there seemed to always be part of the city above and below them.

Watching from the small window, she let the sound of hooves upon cobblestone fill the silence. Knowing the mustached man’s gaze never left as his fingers slowly drummed upon the top of his cane in the opposite seat. The longer it dragged on, the deeper the chill in her spine seemed to stretch, a void where her heart once seemed to beat.

The pain of what transpired in the Cathedral was still fresh, yet she broke the silence.

“I expected death to be more simple than this.” Kat’s voice hoarse from the earlier screams, a syllable in the middle breaking as she swallowed down the last sob and wiped a finger beneath an eye.

“You, of all people, Miss Hawke, should know that nothing is so simple.” The other passenger spoke plainly, his head lifting slightly as he did so. “You are rather hard to kill after all, and you have so much to answer for.”

Kat’s nose wrinkled at that, biting her tongue as she shook her head, attention turning from the window to the man. “And when the clock reaches the end of its backward count?”

He simply gave her a knowing look with the faintest hint of a smirk on the corner of his lips. She already knew the answer.

“Good.” She huffed, defeated. “I’m done with whatever twisted game this is. We’ll just sit here and ride the rest of the time out.”

“Oh, that’s not how this works, Miss Hawke. You should know better.”

Before Kat could retort, his cane slammed into the carriage floor, the vehicle turning sharply and turning over. Ejected again from the seat, she flew through the open door, defiantly grabbing hold of the iron handle. Swinging her weight upward, she found the brief moment of victory to be in vain, as her boots found cobblestone instead of the wooden floorboards. The carriage vanished from sight, folding away in waves of tiny tetrahedrons as the Gilnean marketplace appeared instead.

“Fuck!” She cursed beneath her breath, looking skyward to find the adjacent part of the city still looming overhead instead of the moonlit sky.

Exasperated, she let out a breath, fingers pulling through the tousled raven hair. Eyes scanning the now stilled streets of Gilneas, contemplating what pain this place would soon bring her.

A subtle dripping echoed in her ears, and her stomach dropped. Freezing for a moment and swallowing hard before casting her gaze in the direction of the sound. A small puddle of blood was pooling within the indentation of the stones, and as much as she wanted to refuse, her eyes still peeled upward to the source.

Knees buckled, and her throat went dry as she stared up upon the bodies of her agents, operatives, and informants. Vynette, Sarida, Quinn, and all the others, even Riley. Each impaled upon the streetlamps, stretching from one end of the market to the other. One hand clenched upon her chest, the thundering of a heartbeat lacking in her ears as she examined the horror and questioned what this was to be.

“Even the ones you cared about, you neglected. Used only when needed, cast aside when not. Empty promises and high hopes are all you were ever good for.” A spiteful voice called from behind her.

Pivoting on one leg, Kat spun around, instinctively reaching for weapons but found none. Her eyes narrowed in search of the familiar voice, its source stepping out from behind a closed market stall.

Tristana, the youngest of her agents, whom she made promise after promise to and never delivered.

“So self-absorbed, you’d say whatever you could just to keep people on your side.” The blonde spat out, motioning a hand to the corpses above. “You told me lie after lie, and I wasn’t the first nor the last. I gave you countless chances, and still, you fell short of your word.”

“That’s not fair, you were brash and reaching for power without hesitation.” Kat stood her ground, eyeing the armor the young agent wore, the very set from the siege of Lordaeron.

“And yet you dangled the promises of teachings in front of my face like a carrot on a stick! Let me have a taste and then turned your back on me. Again.”

“I wanted to protect you!”

“No! You were scared of me.” Tristana stuck a finger in Kat’s direction. “You were afraid I would surpass you, find someone else more willing and less guarded to show me. Afraid that I could have grown beyond you and take your power for myself.”

Kat recoiled as the girl struck an accurate nerve. “You were being reckless, ran off once. How was I supposed to tr—”

“Don’t even talk about trust!” Tristana snapped back, cutting Kat off. “I had every reason not to trust you, every reason to walk away, every reason to betray you. Yet you want to stand there like our conversation at the docks never happened? Like I never followed you to Lordaeron, where you nearly got me killed. Where I threw myself in the open to draw the attention away from you?”

A sudden gust of wind ripped through the marketplace as the earth trembled faintly. The gale carrying the words ‘not stable’ in a piercing whisper.

With a sudden loss of words, Kat just shook her head as the young agent scoffed.

“How long until they figure it out? Probably too late, if I had to guess.” Tristana pointed again to the bodies above, specifically to Quinn. “She’s going to trust your empty promises. She might even look up to you to learn from you. And then you’re going to let her down, neglect her, let her sit on the hook for months to a year with just scraps of pity attention. Then when she wises up to it, you’ll make it out like she misunderstands.”

“That’s not what I want. Not what I wanted...” Kat whispered, eyes pleading through the pain.

“But it’s what you do, and what you did. Eventually, they will figure it out, all of them will. That you’re nothing more than a manipulative, self-absorbed, bitch.”

Again the earth shook, violently this time, sending Kat to the ground and bouncing off the cobblestones. Quick to roll over and prop herself up on her knees, she found that Tristana was gone, as were the impaled bodies. Another roaring wind that carried words, ‘crashing again,’ tore through the open market. Banners and flags ripping from their poles and whipping away towards the horizon.

Beneath her, the street began to shift, curling upward as the marketplace started to invert. Desperately she grasped at the cobblestones and streetlamps, searching for a handhold to prevent the inevitable fall. The wrought iron post snapped off in her fingers and sent her tumbling towards a vacant market stall. Crashing into the boards just as it felt as if the air had been sucked from her lungs, and dropped once again within the speeding carriage.

“A lot to unpack with that one, Miss Hawke?” Amusement practically danced on the mustached man’s tone.

“Fuck you, Charles.” Kat managed to get out between gasps for air.

“The young girl isn’t wrong, of course. I can almost relate, except you didn’t slit her throat as you did mine once you were finished with her.”

“You were working against me.” Kat snarled in response.

“No. You just made yourself believe that to make the decision easier. You hold regret with her, but not for me.” He straightforwardly stated.

Hanging her head, Kat put elbows upon knees, fingers weaving at the nap of her neck. The Catherdral bell tolling one o’clock now. Defeated, tired, and helpless, she sat in silence as the carriage continued its course. Tears falling to the floorboards, each one welling beneath the eyes in searing pain. The familiarity of her heartbeat was suddenly missed.

She prayed for this purgatory to end.

[ Mentioned: @tristanasneak, @lovelydeadlysocialite, @quinn-varden, @blue-eyedraven ]

( [Chapter I] [Chapter II] [Chapter III] ) ( [pt.I] [pt.II] [pt.III] [pt.IV] [pt.V] )

#ic #plotlines #Isolation #pt.VI

Uull lwhuk h'iwn

(Following [Ul basha krix])

Only a few days had passed since her previous trip to Uldum, but the spread of darkness had shifted as if it had been a year. Stretching further across the sanders, the sky was now littered with platforms and towering structures of obsidian, all of which held that red glow and carved scripture. The sight alone sent chills running over Kat’s shoulders and down her spine, the power in the air nearly tangible.

"Kat...” Alyssa spoke up, no doubt feeling the shift in environmental power. “I think it's time to tell me what your goal is out here. I can't help if you don't."

"The same as it was before. There's already souls out here for the taking, little to no effort." Kat’s answer was vague as she stared at the gateway to Ny’alotha at the opposite end of the river.

"You're building to something. You need them for a reason.... My soul is as dark as yours. You can trust me. You have to, or I won't keep doing my part in this."

Annoyance quickly swept over her emotion at the vague threat. Pausing for a moment as her gaze shifted to the twisted fields below. Attempting to simply force the warlock into submission would likely yield poor results and she was right, some trust had to be given.

"Saving your soul will require quite a bit of power and untained essence to weave in the damaged parts that the fel would leave in it's absence. There's also the matter of my own, which... I'm still unsure of, I've tried in the past but was never successful." An honest answer, though lacking detail.

"Okay." A pause, as if she’d let the conversation end there. "Your soul has changed, noticeably. I'm concerned. Don't just dismiss it."

"It's always changing, a constant flux. I step too close to a Ren'dorei or Lightforged it spikes one way or the other." Kat clearly dismissive, against Alyssa’s warning.

"Not like this Kat. The outline has changed, the dark is darker. I've seen what more or less looks like. This is new."

A quiet exhale against the mask pulled up over the lower face as her gaze dropped to the stone beneath her feet. Alyssa was right and she knew it, everything she experienced during the dagger’s absence put the risks in a true perspective and her fears were becoming a reality.

‘Gag yoh'ghyl og hoq uul'gwa.’ The clawing whisper interjected.

"It's fine." She dismissed the topic, again, as she set off to descend upon the site of torment cells.

"Stop saying that!" Alyssa's voice comes with more force this time, anger bubbling up in it. "What did you say the other day? 'I should have listened to you?' Get out of your own ass and listen to me, I'm trying to keep you alive."

"What do you want me to say?!" She snapped back, nearly losing her footing on the crumbling walkway. "That this shit scares me? You think I don't know the risks? Or that I'd be out here for someone other than myself? I know, okay... I know. I'm trusting you to keep me safe, do I need to say that?"

"I want you to accept that this isn't normal, that you can't keep going the same way you are. Something came back with you from Uldum."

"Yeah, I uh...” Previous denial began to crumble as Alyssa spoke, realizing the folly in her former plan and giving into the whispers of the obelisk she restored within her own home. “I stole one of the cultists tomes. It's back at home though." Another half truth.

"Maybe that was it, but it's stuck to you more than just that." Alyssa held a hint of that fear in her voice. "It hears us and sees us. I'm sure of that."

"Darling, if you could see the world right now you'd understand just how much of an understatement that is." There was a hint of amusement in her tone, but no less serious than she typically was as she scanned the horizon of growing appendages. "It's rather grotesque."

"What do you want?" The way Alyssa asks is off.

"What?" Confusion and annoyance apparent as raven brows pushed together. "Are you serious? I already told you..."

No response came, just silence. Kat huffed softly as eyes rolled, muttering a quiet ‘whatever’ into the mask as she snuck across the rooftops of the abandoned farm hovels.

Dropping along the back wall she kept herself pressed to the bricks, side stepping to the corner as a knife pulled from the waist. Spinning the blade over in the fingers her grip tightened, peering around the corner to gauge her timing until the lone cultist would draw near. The internal clock ticked away, gloved fingers flexing one by one with each second that passed until the figures shadow approached the desired mark.

Pivoting out on one leg she struck, the blade darting through the air like lightning and plunging into the chest of the cultist, a female orc whose skin turned violet from the corruption. Kat’s free hand grabbed hold the robes, dragging the victim back around the corner and out of sight.

The slight misjudgment in height caused her blade to miss the heart by a mere inch, giving the orc the opportunity to struggle. The massive hand reaching out and locking onto the Director’s neck, constricting with the brutish strength. The runes on her bracers sparked and flared faintly in the moment, immediately triggering alarm as adrenaline began to flow.

“Buy a girl a drink first.” She spat out from beneath the choking hold, her knife repeatedly stabbing the orc’s chest in several quick bursts. The brute strength began to wane, the other arm spinning over to free her throat from the weakened grasp. Without hesitation she rushed forward in a headbutt to the orc’s nose, the bone breaking in the collision as it collapsed to the ground, life seeping away into the sand.

Rubbing at the leather around the neck Kat took a few larger breaths, the sense of alarm fading away as she stepped over the body. “Sorry, no’ my type.”

Sheathing the bloodied knife at the waist again she quickly inspected the bracers, concerned still by the flare. There had been no outward use of magic from the orc, yet they resisted something. Whatever it was had been unseen and it only incubated the growing fear in her mind. Swallowing the lump in her throat she moved along the building again, settling in between the two to further scope her destination.

Two torment cells, housing captured Ramkahen citizens, were now unattended only a few yards away. Their position along a low stone wall provided her cover to allow Alyssa to work, but patrolling beheaders and worms above were still an obstacle of timing.

Before she could move the bracers flared again, stronger and brighter this time, enough to cause pain in the soul as if something or someone had snuffed a cigarette against her very core. Panic and fear grew tenfold at the very thought of her bracers failing, allowing not just an outside influence to touch her soul but the enchantments held her in a balance.

‘Iilth ma paf'qi'ag sk'halahs.’

Fingers fumbled as they searched for the azerite crystal around her neck, pulling the chain to free the stone from beneath the leather armor. In a tight grasp she drew power from the crystal, expending over half its charge to fight back against whatever unseen force was attacking her only safeguard of the soul.

#ic #plotlines #Ascension #pt.VI

Open Doorways

(Following [Blurred Lines])

Slipping back into the city and her role was easy enough, gone just long enough to not raise suspicion among her peers. It wasn’t uncommon for the Director to shut herself in for several days at time, always the black sheep in the group of unit leaders. Her reputation for unorthodox methods, callous approaches to mission completion, and alcoholic tendencies would always make her the odd one out from the others.

In a way, it made things easier; to be feared rather than loved.

Vynette had cast an inquisitive look when returned, one which Kat met with a solid stare. There was no true worry that the operative would begin to question and pull at the strings of the carefully constructed tapestry of lies, the elven woman had been loyal to a fault in the year of employment. Hiding her true identity was a risk to them both, a particular debt the Director never failed to remind her of.

Yet the trickles of paranoia swept across the back of her mind, subtle but no less troublesome as the sinister whisper crept into her thoughts.

‘They will all betray you. Stand in your way. Deny you the power deserved.’

The deep voice boomed within her skull, it had become louder and more present than before since her trip to the Vale. A thumb dug into the inner corner of an eye as it pinched shut, attempting to ignore the dark call as the glass of whiskey on her desk was inhaled.

‘Destiny awaits within the Sleeping City.’

Looking up as the voice echoed in the eardrums a shadowed silhouette stood in the home office doorway, a perfect mirror image of herself. Lips curled as she bared teeth, a growl of anger rolling up through the throat. In a hasty stand the empty glass flew across the room, striking the illusion center mass. Shadows evaporated on the impact, seeping into the walls and floor as the glass crashed into the wall beyond the door, shattering to pieces.

‘Your anger—’

“Fuck off!” She protested, grabbing the azerite crystal at her neck. The energy pulsed, pushing the documents on her desk a few inches before it surged through the body. The blue and gold sparks igniting the fingertips and encircled the irises as the euphoric sensation washed over her. Silence at last came as the Director rode out the energetic high, hands shaking a bit a she caught her breath.

Hands planted upon the heavy wooden surface of the desk as she stared where the shadowy doppelganger had been. With a deep breath her gaze shifted to the rack in the corner where her gear had been discarded, eyes dropping to the illuminated Gilnean dagger that hung in it’s sheath from the peg.

Immediately she recalled the conversation with the warlock trapped inside and her anger flared further. Kat would never truly admit when Alyssa was right, always abruptly ending the conversation but it didn’t change the facts of the matter.

Progress would always require pain.

She reminded herself, taking another few long breaths as attention turned towards the board on the adjacent wall. Eyeing over the forgotten and forbidden runes and ritual measures that were collected from ancient texts and observations in the Vale.

Her plan had always been to return again, like Nazjatar, slipping in and out every few days to harvest souls already lost. But now there was something else, a feeling she couldn’t quite shake or place a finger on at her core, a desire to return. Like a boat in the current she felt a subtle tug to travel to the Vale, a cold twitch at the base of her spine.

[ Mentioned / Relevant: @alyssa-ward, @lovelydeadlysocialite ]

(Chapter I: Dark Secrets) ( [pt.I] [pt.II] [pt.III] [pt.IV] [pt.V] )

#ic #plotlines #Descent #pt.VI

Al'ksh syq iir awan?

(Few days following [Failed Bargains]) Content Warning: Horror, Blood, Self-harm, Death

It had been days but the events that unfolded back in the cave still haunted the recesses of Kat’s mind, slipping into thoughts while she worked. The one line repeating constantly in her mind. ‘Lilth ma paf'qi'ag sk'halahs.‘; You are a prisoner in your own body. Something she always said in half jest when someone would ask about the bracers she never removed. A fact she had come to terms with, or so she thought. Hearing it from the dark entity made it too much more of a reality. Could it have seen her for what she truly is?

Spending more nights alone, sequestered to her home, she repeatedly asked herself the question. It was a vicious cycle, to allow others in behind her walls before inevitably becoming distant and reconstructing the defenses they’d broken through. Repair the emotional armor to protect herself as much as them from pain.

Easy enough to distance Sarah, their paths crossing only so often. Claim work kept her busy, the blonde wouldn’t question it. Alyssa though, a bit trickier, having to carefully construct reasons as to why she’d need to be alone, breaking their habitual cycle of a spending a few nights together, skipping a training session every few weeks with solid excuses pertaining to her occupation.

Harder to explain was the crafted coin the red head gifted her, which laid in pieces upon the mahogany desk. What was a thoughtful gift used for purposes beyond it’s construction, barely to survive the strain of housing two parts of a soul. The token shattered under the pressure of returning the shard of her soul to the body.

That shard she’d cut away to protect the thread of another’s soul she carried with her. A bond that was left dormant for months, a bond that carried more weight than the Director was willing to admit. Her failed attempt to sever it once before only dug that hole deeper. Despite the pain, guilt, and fear that sun-kissed woman on the other side still held importance to her.

‘Ywaq gag fash ilith.’

Another dark whisper tugged at her thoughts of the women. She did her best to ignore it and clear the mind, refusing to give the darkness another foothold. Focusing instead on the ice cold water that poured from the shower faucet and raced across the scared flesh of her muscled figured. It mattered not how fast or strong she’d pushed herself to become, for it would never close the gap of mental weakness.

With a piercing screech a handle turned and water ceased. Bare feet stepping from the shallow basin to the tiled floor. Soft pads of wet feet echoing in the silence as she approached the mirror mounted above the porcelain sink. One of three reflective surfaces in the entire home.

Staring into her nude reflection the self-loathing stirred at the back of her mind. Eyes trailed from scar to scar, searching for answers where none existed. It was then something shifted in the reflection, catching her attention in a blink of an eye. A dark mass clung to the ceiling behind her, twitching and convulsing, a single orange orb focusing on the Director.

#ic #plotlines #Dark Secrets #pt.VI

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Unexpected Freedom

( Immediately following [Those We Least Expect] and [No Return] )

"Fair enough, lass. Can't blame me for being curious though." The captain shot a sly grin, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword though his body language remained passive, a low snort forced from his nostrils. "Hope the crew is strong, if she manages to get lose while ye move her it'll be a mess. Just keep her away from any azerite until she's in the ring."

“Is it too much to ask that you give us a few minutes alone, Captain?” Alexa spoke, throwing the words over her shoulder, all while fingertips wrapped carefully around the cold iron. She let out a slow breath, a concentrated look coming over her face while she contemplated how exactly she was going to pry Kat out of here.

The Captain shifted his gaze to the members of the crew who stood about the space, sniffing idly before rubbing the hairs on his chin. "Aye, fine, but only a few minutes. My men will be right outside incase she ain't as friendly as ye seem to be hopin'." With a quick nod to the side, he and members of the crew shuffled out of the room, those that were armed let their gazes linger on both the caged woman and Alexa before departing. Ambers flicked to the side as everyone left. Once everyone was out, Kat stood and slowly approached the bars, silent, the only sound were the clinks of the iron shackles at her wrists she moved. Her gaze looking through the confining iron to meet the other woman's.

“Kat…” Alexa muttered once the men were out of earshot, quickly leaning into the bars and raising up another hand to drip iron with its partner. Azure hues cut through the darkness to peer back at her, there was no fear present here, no clear need to run or hide form the raw energy that skirted the form of the Director.

"Alexa... Wot are ya' doin' here?" She whispered back, almost in disbelief, her own fingers wrapped around the bars just before her waist, only able to span two bars with the restraint at her wrists. Her gaze scanned the Admiral, uncertain if she was really here or just an illusion of the mind.

“Business, at first, but I saw you in the ring… what have they done to you?” Persian blues searched her visage for a few lingering moments, before Alexa glanced over her shoulder with a low breath. “I’m not sure how long they are going to give us, can you walk?”

Amber hues diverted to the ground at the initial question, unsure how to answer. She looked back up, giving a low and contemplative hum. "I'm standin' now, ain't I? Speed might be another question though, an it's no' like I can just walk right out the fron' door, Alexa. If ya' saw me in the ring, then-." She nearly choked on her words, lips pursed before she muttered. "I did wot I had to, to survive."

“Love, We can talk about how much of a badass you are in combat after I get you out of here, alright? I offered to buy you, but I suspect that something is afoul, he caved far too easy, and pirates have no fuckin’ honor. I have men nearby, so if all falls to shit, we may be able to get out of here.” Fingertips deftly felt up the lock, before she closed her eyes fully, a low breath filling her lungs as she called and whispered to the light. Shielding the glow with her body, she pressed the heat to the metal, pinching by a thumb and forefinger at the thin metal before it clipped into the mechanism.

"Ya' mean the monster I am..." Kat muttered quietly before taking a deep inhale, shaking her head and watching the woman work the lock. "He probably assumes, or at the very least hopes, that ya'll end up like the last person who tried to buy me. He doesn' know who ya' are though, right? And just don' overdo it with the 'I own ya' jokes, yeah? People might get the wron' idea." Though she was joking, or attempting to, her tone was flat and level, like a woman who had been pushed to her breaking point.

"To many to fight, no' that I wouldn', but I ain't worth yer life bein' lost." The Director whispered as she stepped forward, closing the gap between them, rolling her wrists within the iron as she brought them up. "Just heavy iron, no enchantment. He wouldn' risk killin' me and I wusn' foolish enough to try and fight my way out alone, he knew this. Ya' can try a bullet, but...it's a one time shot, they'll come runnin' the moment they hear it." Kat's gaze narrowed slightly in consideration of the Admiral's words. "Ya'? Pull us into the shadows? Since when did ya' learn to do that, or are ya' just takin' a gamble with novice skill? I know first hand how difficult it can be to wield both the Light and Shadow. No, forgive me Alexa, but we both know I'm more adept at such things. I will pull us both into the shadows.” A low chuckle rolled through her lips at the words that Kat offers next, a brow arching in response as fingers found the firearm strapped to her thigh. “I would remind you that there is much we do not know of each other, Director. But more importantly, even the most novice of rogues are taught how to skirt the line between reality and the shadowlands. Add that to a bit of light bending, and they would never be able to tell at all.” She cocked the barrel, admiring the pistol before taking hold, pointer finger wrapping around the trigger. “If you wish to enter the actual lands, however, that is more of your skill set.” Holding wrists apart, Kat’s gaze dropped to the firearm, mildly admiring the piece in the Admiral's hand but not daring to make a joke about her skill with the weapon, fully aware Alexa bested her there. "True, our focus tended to be elsewhere, though let the record show that I did intend to learn more of ya' at the time before-... Let me move us between realms. I don' dare drag ya' through the shadowlands in full, but I'm no stranger to moving between planes with company." Letting the sudden silence envelope their forms for a moment or two while Alexa steadied her mind, and breath, before shifting her stance in unison to aim and draw back the pistol, Kat’s gaze suddenly shifted to the doorway. Despite her condition, her enhanced senses still remained intact. The Admiral shifted to meet that familiar searching gaze, her own reflecting a certain calamity that resided on her form and momentum before walking or stalking into battle. No vocalization of the enemy nearing needed to be said, understanding the look full heartedly. “Ready?” Kat’s response came within a second, a quick and sudden nod. Without hesitation Alexa fired the shot to clip the chain that bound the Director’s wrists, though directing it ultimately to the wall behind her agile frame. The sound of sudden footsteps in the hallway became loud and clear, quickly closing in on the room where they stood, the Captain shouting orders to the men along the way. Collecting herself from the sharp sound of the gunshot and yanking her wrists apart as the chain broke, Kat reached both hands out and hastily gripped the Admiral's lower arm. "Sorry, luv'." With little time to properly acclimate Alexa's body to how Kat's magic functions, she dragged them both into the shadows, between the plane of reality and the Shadowlands. Kat's left eye glazing over in a void purple-hue, her grip like iron on the other woman as her gaze moved up to meet the other's. The space around them turned to a dark greyscale, the Redtide crew and Captain flooding into the room seconds after they vanished, looking around in confusion. "They're here somewhere, find them!" The large man shouting and drawing steel in frustration.

#ic #plotlines #Shadow of the Shore #pt.VI #the hawke at sea #Freehold

The Monster Within

(Immediately following [When the Cage Breaks])

“Forgive me, for preying on the weak.”

Fingers tightened around a chunk of bark on the tree and eyes slammed shut as the muscles in her body began to lurch and twist. She couldn’t help but double over as the searing pain the contorting bones brought coursed through her body, clenching her jaw and grinding teeth to keep from shouting out.

The fingertips of the gloves burst open as the slender digits stretched several inches and nails turned to claws, boots gave way and tore at the seems when feet expanded into paws. The core parts of the armor put to the test as the woman’s already long legs stretched and her torso morphed, muscles pulling. What appeared to be random seams in the armor actually concealed a synthetic mesh, the seams parting to expand with the body, just as requested. A blue-grey coat of fur quickly sprouted from sun-kissed skin as her skull reformed and teeth cracked into fangs.

Steel grey eyes flew open as it came to an end, a clawed hand raising into few as fingers flexed and the claws clicked against each other. Pushing her self back up to stand fully, an additional foot and few inches added to her height. It was a strange sensation, as if she was watching the world through a window, inhabiting the body but without full control. A deep inhale quickly overwhelmed the sense of smell, ears flicking in all directions as minor sounds became clear as crystal.

After a short moment for the body to adjust, the monster’s gaze shifted to the makeshift field hospital across the field from where she stood. Lips curling in a snarl, ivory fangs barred in a low growl as anger replaced every thought in her mind and feeling in her body. Dropping to stalk around the barren farmland on all fours until there was a clear shot to the enemy.

#ic #plotlines #Battle for Lordaeron #the monster within #pt.VI #tw:blood #tw:gore #tw:death

but I’m not with him. so why does it matter? I feel this deep sense of loyalty to him. why? it could be because I know he’s loyal to me. but there’s no way for me to really know that. so it’s more for this reason, I am subject to him– just because.

#og #pt.vi