THIS IS LARGELY MY FAVORITE THING TO TRY AND WRITE??? It came out in an rp AGES ago with Singlar’s mun, and he was like (oocly) “what if you were my wife but I thought I’d lost you?” during a really sad part of an rp. It ripped my heart out and it’s been that way forever.

It’s evolved from something akin to screaming into the void to something else less screamy.

Singlar was pretty young as a dwarf – few decades old, probably 60 or so – and he was out exploring with his older brother, Kóri. They were out, being stupid “young” guys, when they came upon a night elf village. They weren’t used to meeting any of the other races beyond dwarves, gnomes, and humans, and the elves were… gorgeous, to say the least. Kóri would joke at Singlar about “staring too long,” but as a young paladin, the starlight that emanated from their eyes was intoxicating.

Though he and his brother left the village after a particularly bad cold snap (it was only like a few days before the weather opened up), Singlar had developed a major crush on the elf that would become his wife. It took maybe ten years before they actually got married, and they stayed that way for almost 80 years (so he’d be roughly 150-160 when she “died”). They’d made a home in the mountain ranges between Mount Hyjal/Felwood/Winterspring, and they were pretty happy.

Emerald Dream portals would open randomly though, and the village they lived in believed they were well defended, so no one left. Singlar left to go visit his brother in Ironforge (for some business) and left Zaha’a alone at their home. When Singlar returned a few weeks later, it was a gory mess: the village was reduced to smoldering ash, fresh corpses of elves and worgen were everywhere, and Singlar couldn’t find his wife anywhere among the survivors. So, he thought she’d perished.

For another 90+ years, he held a hatred for elves and worgen (and anyone that could turn into one tbh). He blamed himself for staying too long in Ironforge, for not taking the first boat and being delayed by a few extra hours, for not bringing his wife along in the first place.

Since there wasn’t anything left of her – possessions, body, even a photo – Singlar was left with nothing of his wife, but her visage haunted him every day for nearly 50 years. He went and drank himself nearly to death, until the kingdoms of men started asking for the other races to help build up their cities. He spent the next few decades working, drinking, sleeping with everyone, and refusing to allow himself to grieve or let go of his anger. He got sick, and sicker, and sickest of all when the orcs invaded Azeroth. He was one of the first to put his skills into the armies for the Alliance, and used it as an excuse to shed blood.

(Even that left him so very hollow inside, and it did not feel good to watch the blood go down the drain after a battle.)

When his commanders realized what he was doing, he was sent to Silithus to keep the supply chains there flowing for the Alliance and keep them as long as possible from the Horde. It was only when he touched down in Stormwind and was given the orders to go did he see Ahilyah for the first (and only) time fully decked out in her commander’s armor – at the time, he didn’t know she was his commander and was pretty awful to her, but she let it slide – as they were both introduced to the other members of their team.

All seven of them left to go to Silithus. Eventually, after battles and literal years spent in the bug-infested cesspool, everyone but Singlar and Ahilyah died or were transferred. They didn’t get any other teammates, and it was just them holding down an entire outpost.

They grew comfortable, enough to drink and sleep in the same room together (more for camaraderie than anything else), and eventually they started sharing their lives. She told him about her explorations and commander school, he told her how it was to grow up in the heart of a mountain; he explained paladin teachings (that he often scoffed at in the same breath of whispering his prayers to the Light), she explained beautiful and terrifying worlds beyond their touch that only a few could (or would) ever see. They were friends.

Between fighting the Horde and the old god worshippers and the bugs, Ahilyah was often given secret missions that they’d go and usually sabotage Horde encampments (”don’t explain anything to me, and I’ll have no questions to ask,” Singlar would tell her), but one time there was a month of nothing. Singlar asked if the war was over, if they’d be released from this Hell and they’d finally go their separate ways; she explained she’d already been given her orders, and had been given plenty of mail about not completing it yet.

When he asked why they hadn’t gone out to do “another get-this, kill-that” mission, she explained it wasn’t that type of mission anymore. It was supposed to have them go outside of the combat zone and kill any and every Horde village nearby. She had twenty-four hours to respond, or she’d be court marshaled, judged by the king and his peers, and executed. (She still didn’t know which part of the kingdom this order came from, but it had an official seal. She had asked the high command for a repeat of the orders, but she never got one – so, she stayed put, mostly because of her morals and also because she didn’t believe it was a real King Varian-stated order.)

They had a screaming match due to misunderstandings until she screamed something in anger – basically “you’re such a stupid dwarf, I can’t believe I put up with you for so many centuries” – and he was like “????what????”

And then they had a very awkward reveal that she was his wife.

He was angry, hurt, confused, and felt like he wanted to throw up. He ended up camping out in the next outpost over, thinking everything over.

Ahilyah never did the mission. At this point the Alliance basically forgot about Silithus as the Legion expac started, King Wrynn dying, and the other Alliance leaders straining under Anduin’s leadership. He came back after fighting on the Broken Shore for a while (she was in Suramar for a time), but they went back to Silithus when the Broken Isles were secure.

Days before the Sargeras skewering of the world, they started to talk about things. Though Anduin’s reign was much different than his father’s, their relationship would never be able to heal. Silithus was going to be released so the people there could refocus elsewhere in the world, but so far it was just a waiting process.

They were on their way out of the zone (near the northern mountain range) when the sword came down. The group they were traveling with were able to get into a nearby cave, but it turned out to be a straight view of the valley; they’d be burned alive if the shockwave didn’t kill them.

And being stupid, Singlar kind of just stood in front of Ahilyah as they curled up in the corner of the cavern while Silithus erupted in flames. In the last few seconds before the flames hit them, he was like, “I wasted years over you.” And she just had to tell him to choose: the anger, or a clear future.

When the shockwave hit, everything exposed to the flames was horribly burned.  Chunks of Azerite were thrown into bodies of people, killing some instantly due to the intense high while others were in severe agony. The dwarves and gnomes that sat in the cavern came out completely different, half infused with this rock that deformed their bodies but also gave them immense strengths they hadn’t had before.

Ahilyah ends up with horrible burns/scars across the right side of her body (and flecks on her left). The warrior’s right eye glows like the Azurite does, and parts of her scars sometimes glow if she gets too enraged. She goes into blind rages whenever she loses control of herself, going into a frenzy due to the Azerite in her system.

For Singlar, he’s got these giant rocks (kinda like the rock giants in Deepholm?) sticking out of his back, pulsing every time his heart beats. His eyes turn from an ice blue to brilliant gold, and the veins along his body pulse the same color. He’s got burns along the skin that isn’t infused with Azerite, and the back of his head/neck have diamonds/Azerite crystal hybrids growing out of it.

(The other dwarves and gnomes come out looking similar to Singlar, only with their own molecular type – some have sandstone/Azerite, sapphire/Azerite, etc. Each one’s experiences with the Azerite infusion range wildly to “this sucks” to “what could go wrong?”)

Singlar is pretty rusty when it comes to a long relationship, but he knows a catch when he sees one, so would try to feel you out as friends before trying a relationship. He’d probably see you in the bar and guzzle down a few drinks before he had the courage (or adrenaline rush) to speak to you and ask you if you wanted some dinner later.

After the initial hook of asking you for dinner, the dwarf wouldn’t rely so heavily on drinking to get the courage to talk with you. He’d spend the better parts of many evenings by a cozy fire as you would share stories of the craziest (and probably worst) battle experiences each of you would have.

Though he is a paladin, healing isn’t his thing – he’d still be in awe of your skills, however, and would probably lose aggro watching you for too long. He’s very stubborn and would fight for you on any occasion, rushing head-first into the slightest danger if it meant helping you.

He can’t cook worth his life, but would make little trinkets in the shape of things that reminded him of you (most definitely a fish, a carving of a river in some sea glass, probably make a little instrument if he could find one that would pair well with your singing).

On the other hand, Totality isn’t quite into the Horde/Alliance war as most blood elves tend to be. He just wants to live and let live. He’s a bit of a dork and a little naive, but hearing you singing at a bar would mesmerize him. He’d sit and listen for as long as you’d sing, and afterward, he would sheepishly ask you what the songs were.

Not as smooth as Singlar, this paladin would ask if you would be in town for very long, and, if yes, would you want to have lunch sometime just to talk. He’d ask you all sorts of questions – do all humans sing like this? are you sure you aren’t part siren? what is your favorite shanty? could you teach him one? – until he’d be red in the face. It wouldn’t take him long to relax, but when he did, Totality would just love hearing you talk (or for you two to sit in silence; he was comfortable with either).

Noticing your healing abilities would be one of the next things he sees, and he’d ask if you could show him a few tricks. He was okay as a healer, but always wants to be more helpful to those he’s with and would appreciate anything you taught him.

Though he would wear a Horde tabard, he hardly calls himself part of its ranks; in a heartbeat, he’d follow you anywhere if you so asked. Some would probably frown upon that, but Gilneans lived so close to Silvermoon, and it wasn’t so long ago that you two could have met and your friendship (or anything more) would’ve been considered “normal.”

Nezzrra’s first and main demon, Z’ror, was summoned when she was about 7. He manipulated her from that point until just before SOO happened (so roughly a handful of thousands of years). She caught onto his tricks around WotLK and he fled, fearing she’d kill him (or worse, banish him forever), but they never talked about it until they arrived in Pandaria and she nearly died in the siege.

He tricked her for her entire life, and she doesn’t know how to progress from there. He kept sabotaging her demonology work so he would be the “only one” to possess her, and basically had really gross obsessive feelings toward her that ruined their entire relationship when she found out. They’re just now fixing it in Legion, but. Still. It’ll never be the same.

In Singlar’s case, when he found his home in Mount Hyjal’s peaks decimated by worgen (and most of the people dead or only body parts remaining), he truly hated everyone and everything. He turned to drugs of all sorts and sleeping with as many women as possible just to burn out the hate, but it only kept it on the backburner for him. He was sent to Silithus for ages with a worgen commander (Ahilyah) and he had to confront his hatred in full-force. For years. He’s been in Silithus with her since the Silithus campaign was a thing, and he’s only left the area a handful of times in the last ten+ years.