#veriggan

LUNA'S BODYGUARDS ALL HAVE THESE LIKE SUPER SAPPY NAMES

Syran is the guard of her soul

Kairo is the guard of her heart

Pritt is the guard of her life

Veri is the guard of her body

AND TOGETHER THEY MAAAAKE

Luna had not heard from the unknown assailant who had threatened the life of her prime consort, Itharius, in several hours. 

After refusing to comply with the stranger's demands, she sent Veriggan and Pritt to try and find whatever they could. She waited in her estate's front entrance room, pacing back and forth impatiently, while Raureifgos watched with calm, milky blue eyes. 

"They're going to find him." A voice said from the doorway. Luna turned, and saw Lystrasz, with the usual book tucked under his arm. 

The dragonprincess sighed. 'You don't know that for certain, kras'cariol." 

Rau rumbled in turn, "Lady Veriggan and mistress Prittakhe are more than capable of returning triumphant. In my opinion, this was the doing of some pathetic being who only wished to scare you."

"Or it could be Yisariach." A third voice rang out, thick with a Darnassian accent. Asha stepped in, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one toying with her like this."

At the mention of her father Lunastrasza bristled, then sagged, suddenly feeling more hopeless than ever. She had lost Itharius once, at the Maelstrom. She did not want to lose him ever again. 

"This is my fault." She said, her voice small and hoarse. "I should have paid more attention...I should have protected him but I couldn't..."

A hand on her shoulder made her sigh, and she turned her head to the side only to see the kind green eyes of Lysir. "It was not your fault, my princess. You did everything in your power to keep him safe."

Raureifgos stood, approaching them slowly. "What we can now do is hope that he is alright. You cannot just give up, moon of my life." 

The doors suddenly burst open, and Veriggan rushed in, followed by Pritt. Both women were covered in blood, dirt, and bruises, and in Veriggan's arms was a man in evergreen robes. 

"Rau, get a divan, or something, quick." Luna said, looking at Veriggan worriedly, expectantly. The bodyguard simply sighed and laid Itharius down on the divan that Rau had pushed forwards. 

Kneeling next to him, Luna clasped her consort's hand, desperation in her glimmering golden eyes. "Ith...speak to me...are you alright...?" She asked, her voice so hoarse and quiet it sounded like a shaky breath. 

But the green dragon heard, and he shakily raised a hand to brush a lock of her pale hair away from her face. "...I am sorry, my princess..." He breathed, letting out a hacking cough. Itharius's face was covered in bruises, his robes covered in his own blood. 

"Shh." Luna hushed him, resting a hand against his cheek. "You have no reason to be sorry, my love..." She looked up at Pritt. "Who did this?" Veriggan answered for the protodrake, "Your father."

Lunastrasza sharply took in a breath, her eyes stinging with tears. Lysir reached out a hand, Light energy glowing from his fingers, but Luna gently pushed his arm down, shaking her head. "Wounds from the Shadow cannot be healed using the Light." She whispered brokenly. 

Asha cleared his throat. "Then what do we do, my Light?"

At his question Luna broken down into a fit of sobs, and Itharius, using whatever strength he had left, embraced her, combing his bloodied fingers through her pale hair. 

"Luna...?" He asked, his voice a mere whisper.

She sat up, looking at him pleadingly, her lips trembling as she tried to keep from sobbing again. "...Yes, kras'cariol...?"

"You were always my Dream." He said, before going still, his blue eyes dulling and his chest ceasing its movements. 

Staring at him in disbelief, Luna shook her head, her earrings clacking against the discs hanging from her horns. "...Please, Ith...please don't do this..." She squeezed her eyes shut, weeping in anguish as she buried her head into the soiled green silk of his clothing. 

"...Don't do this to me again..." She begged, but it was no use.

She was once a high priestess, the daughter of Anastasiah Lightwalker, another high priestess who was good friends with the former High Priest Vandellor. Teristra (she told me to call her Teri) met Koltira when he came back from patrol duty with his brother, injured beyond belief. She healed his wounds, and apparently he just so 'happened' to get wounded time and time again so he could see her. Veriggan snorted at that, saying:

"He was a fool, then, truly."

"I thought so as well, Lady Veriggan," replied Teristra, a small smile playing on her black lips. "But somehow it worked."

When the Scourge invaded Quel'thalas, she was there when Koltira's brother was slaughtered, and followed her beloved only to see him murdered as well. She was staring down the executioner's blade when Arthas Menethil himself made the murderer stay his hand.

Her voice grew even quieter after that. Teri was taken captive by the death knights and was taken to a place called Acherus, where she was held in a dark cell. Rarely she was given food and water, she never saw the sun's light (the worst thing for a high elf), and when she was taken from her cell she was tortured.

Tortured by the man she had loved. Koltira had been risen as a death knight under Arthas's control. All over her body were the glowing blue tattoos as sign that she no longer belonged to herself. Her golden hair became silver, her formerly green eyes turned blue, her peachy skin to milky white.

"...And eventually," she said, "I started throwing up every morning, what precious food I had been given gone, every morning. Then my stomach started to bulge and I knew. I knew that I was carrying Koltira's child."

My eyes widened. Pregnancy in such a place...it seemed...impossible.

Teristra sighed. "I had a son. So tiny he was...so fragile. And in a place like that...something so precious seems like a blessing. A sign."

"So what happened?" asked Veriggan, eating a bowl of noodles messily, "How did you get out?"

Teristra took a long sip of tea. "Eventually those death knights in Acherus were freed from the Lich King's control. Koltira remembered everything he had done, and found me in the cell with our son."

Koltira couldn't believe what he had seen in that cell. A dirtied and bloody young woman, thin as a wraith, holding a screaming baby boy. Her robes hung from her frame, turned black from the ashes of the cell, and when she saw Koltira with clear eyes she nearly reeled from him out of instinct.

"The first time I ever saw a man break down and sob." she said. "Even though the dead have no tears to shed. He begged my forgiveness, promising he wouldn't allow me to be harmed again. A promise he wouldn't be able to keep, but still...I forgave him."

"And why the hell did you do that?" Veriggan looked at the priestess, brow furrowed.

Teri took another long sip of her tea, her fingers curling elegantly around the cup. "Because I knew that he was not acting of his own free will. It was the Lich King's. He wasn't who he once was. And he would never be again. But he came back to me at last. Undead, yes, but...himself. Under his own control."

"And what did you do after that?" I questioned, setting my own bowl to the side.

Teristra regarded me with calm blue eyes. "We joined the Horde. I spent two years in Icecrown with him, raising our son Aldarin, and educating myself in the ways of the Shadow. The Light had done nothing for me in my time in that cell. The Shadow kept me company, whispered its words of comfort into my ears, warmed my frozen skin. I grew to love it as a sibling. It could be used for good, I realized, just as much as the Light could."

The Shadow had never occurred to me. I didn't even know of its existence.

"After the Lich King was killed by your hand we left for the Undercity. I met Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, and she spoke to me of an organization that was budding within the hollows of the city. The Sisterhood of Shadow. All women, all believers in the Shadow, all bearers of its immense power. She wanted me to lead them...which startled me, at first, as I had thought myself an amateur at wielding the magics the Shadow provided. For a time I was happy...raising Aldarin in a dwelling within the safety of Sylvanas's domain with Koltira. But then he was called to defend a town in the Western Plaguelands. Andorhal, it was called. He nearly died...and I wasn't there. When he returned, I was told to go to Pandaria to meet with you. So here I am."

I was at a loss for words. She had been through so much.

Teristra stared at me for a few moments. "And you, Lady Veriggan? What is your story?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Veriggan said stiffly. "It's far too boring for your ears."

"I doubt that," I added. "Even I do not know where you are from."

Veriggan sighed, obviously outnumbered. "Alright, fine. But you do not tell another goddamn soul." She caught herself. "Forgive me for my tone, my queen."

I waved her off. "It's fine, it's fine."

My bodyguard cleared her throat. "Well...how do I begin? I was born on a strand of islands just off the coast of southwestern Quel'thalas. They called them the Blue Isles because the water around them was of the purest sapphire in color. I had five sisters: Kaliope, Hannarien, Mistriel, Junnah, and Albeyn. Kaliope was always the prettiest, the eldest, the most amazing at everything. I was the middle child. I also had a younger brother, Fanher, and he was a dope but we all loved him for his stupidity.

It was fairly apparent from the time I was a girl that I was...well, different. I sprouted above the other children, even the boys. At the age of nine I met a boy from a neighbouring family, Andarien Firehawk. He understood me, was the only one who would speak to me. When we were both sixteen we were betrothed."

"Andarien? Is he--" I began, and Veriggan nodded.

"Aerthas's older brother. There was another one, too, the youngest of the three...Kaethan, I think."

Maybe that was why she was so steely on the ships. Memories, perhaps.

"I picked up my father's greatsword one day and he marveled at how I could wield it with one hand. I asked him, I remember: 'Is that not right?' and he laughed. He taught me everything I know about swordplay, and when I was seventeen I was inducted into the Goldenguard, much to the dismay of those around me. 'A woman shouldn't be a part of such a thing,' they'd say. Then I'd slice a mannequin in half, sword still in one hand, and they'd shut the hell up."

She laughed breathily. Teristra smiled and so did I. "You were always quite the woman, then, Lady Veriggan." Teri said.

Veriggan's grin vanished. "I have made mistakes, just as much as anyone else. When the Scourge invaded...I was in the city. Andarien was on the Blue Isles with my family. I raced back to try and find them...but...but..." Her voice broke, and I saw a tear fall from her eye, trail down her cheek. I placed my hand over hers.

"It's alright, Veriggan. We're sorry. We shouldn't have pried--"

"No," she said firmly. "I am fine, my queen. My family was all dead. My sisters, my father and mother, even poor, sweet young Fanhar, gone, slaughtered. Andarien had fought off the bastards who had killed them, bless him, but...he was sliced in the gut by one of the undead before he killed it.

I found him just as he was laying there dying...and I stayed with him until he was still, and long after that. Then these red robe wearing bastards came in and dragged me away, stripping me of my armor and sword along the way. They brought me to this...place, I don't remember where it was...I don't even think it was a part of this plane of existence. But they chained me to a wall, wrists and ankles, and they brought these daggers that they placed into a pot of what seemed to be boiling blood. They chanted, and sung, and dung the points of the daggers into my skin.

Every month, a new marking would join the ever growing collection on my body. Forehead, cheeks, collarbone, everywhere you can think of. Two years I was imprisoned, and I was ready to just...give up. But then I knew I couldn't. Andarien and my family...they wouldn't want that of me. So I broke my chains and stabbed each and every one of them with their own bloody daggers, stumbled through Eversong and made my way back to Silvermoon, where I...happened upon some armor and a new greatsword. I became a sellsword, using the money I received to buy alcohol. I didn't buy myself a home. I killed innocents just so I could find an escape from the seemingly never ending pain that fueled my life. And then one evening when I was in a tavern in the Murder Row...I heard the name 'Lunastrasza, the One Who Defied Death'. I knew you were the queen, but...I didn't much care for you at the time. But I heard that you had killed Deathwing, the Destroyer, and I was in awe. A short little pale thing like you, kill the very thing that caused our world to break? I heard you had become mortal, and I knew you needed help more than ever. So I showed up at your doorstep and you let me slice a damn pillar in half in your own home. Now I'm your bodyguard and I've been sober ever since."

I realized my mouth was opened slightly in shock. "I...I had no idea, Veriggan...I'm sorry."