“Well. No going back now...”
His voice was easily heard in the silence around us. My attention was on the orc in front of me and I lowered the now empty vial in my lap. The liquid tasted strange, not something I’d tasted before. To put my trust in this orc had been hard though, but if he knew more about Sadok… then I wanted to know. He continued talking with the pipe in his mouth, violet smoke surrounding him.
“...Before you... well. Before you meet your teacher; I remember something you said when I first met you... You said that for all your time with the trolls, the Loa you grew up with never once spoke. Never once listened. “ He paused a moment after this and I gave him a light nod, not really knowing where he was going with this.
“And..well...”
Suddenly he took a breath and blew the smoke into my face. I tried to waft it away with my hand and as the sharp smoke got into my nose I started to cough, but it wouldn’t go. I heard Siyah’s voice again.
“…You…”
The smoke stuck to my face and blocked out my sight completely and I started to panic, clawing at the smoke.
“… Thought…”
I couldn’t breathe anymore, the smoke was curling around my neck, blocking my windpipe, as if it was a living being in itself, choking me. My vision started to go dark and I felt myself slipping, but I could just hear the last word he spoke before I lost consciousness.
“…Wrong.”
A fear passed through me, my thoughts muddled and thick, almost feeling likea sort of syrup I was trying to wade through. What was I doing again…? Oh, yes. Sadok! I had to find him, had to find out what happened to him, if he was still alive or if Siyah had been right all alone. So I had accepted his offer for this…vision quest. But I wasn’t too sure about it anymore now…
I woke up, blinking into a sudden darkness and breathing in deeply, glad I even could breathe after that choking sensation I still remembered. It looked to be the exact same place I was in, just a little darker and I was alone. I got to my feet quickly, looking around. My voice sounded small and fragile as I spoke.
“Siya’? Lian? W’ere’d ya go?”
No answer. I swore to myself softly and muttered, moving to the tree to look down below. A gaping, spinning void was below, swirling and aggressive, and I stepped back right away. A voice sounded above me.
“I wouldn’t go down there.” It said, and I responded quickly, looking up. “W’o be dere?”
A raven came into view, sitting down on one of the branches, a sort of shadow surrounding it. I could hear clearly what it was saying as it opened its beak, but it was a bit odd because I could also still hear him squawking.
“Who I be? Why do you need to ask, you chose me yourself.” He said, while tilting its head and clacking its beak. At that moment I remembered, the card Siyahgosh had made me pick, our of five cards total. He said one of them would be my teacher, guide me through this whole madness I already hated. Former spirit quests had left their marks on me, and I didn’t trust them. At all.
I scowled and looked back at him.
"Da 'Anged man. Ya dun look muc' like a 'anged man ta me. Ya supposed ta be ma 'teac'er', ya? Watever dat is gonna be." I spoke, my voice a bit mocking and annoyed.
The bird made a shrug. I was actually surprised birds could portray such humane gestures, but then I reminded myself this wasn’t any normal bird, if it was here.
"It's just a title one gives to me as the card's... 'story' matches mine in some ways. Or so I am told. I am not much a card reader. But you have seen me before, Kyrazha, do not worry. I won't be hurting you… But... if you wish for a more formal introduction...Rrk. I am Portent-of-Ill-Omen."
The name sparked a memory, and I realized this was Siyah’s raven he sometimes had with him. I asked him that much and he admitted to it, making a bow down towards me, puffing out his feathers. We spoke a little more about me choosing him as teacher and what it meant. He just told me not to worry about anything and came down closer, eyeing me over. I didn’t really understand everything he tried to tell me, but I made it clear I was here to find Sadok. Or learn more about his fate, anyway.
"Well. There are two exits here, one... “ he said, and at this he looked down the swirling void below, “And two.” And he turned again, eyeing the way back towards the Rangari Refuge.
"Either is an option. But time is wasting..."
The void behind me suddenly crackled, violet energies moving up into the sky. I had the feeling I needed to really get away from there, that if I’d come closer to that..void that I’d be lost. So I walked away from it very quickly, proposing to just go towards camp then. The Raven followed slowly, looking almost as if it flew a lot slower than it moved, which gave me a very odd feeling. Damn these spirit quests.
The road ahead wasn’t much like I remembered, twisting and turning and every plant and grass beside it was dead and the sensation of walking through them felt really weird, as if I was walking through thick mud. In the distance I could see trees, moving as if a dark sort of hurricane had them in its grasp, casting very long and dark shadows across the sky. I looked back to the road ahead and walked on.
“Be we still in Tanaan, o’..? Be dis some odd reflection o’ somet’in’ else? Can’t say I like it much.” I said to the raven, which was flying just behind me.
"It grows on you. There is a serenity here. Chin Up, orcy. Your kind has endured worse! "And yes, it is -A Tanaan-. Unique, mind. Not many get to see it more than once. So, consider yourself lucky. Just enjoy the stroll... take a deep breath and... try to avoid the natives. The spirits on -this- Draenor are awfully angry!” he said, and let out a merry whistle to follow the dark words.
He was a little too cheerful for my taste and I started to get a little worried, maybe I shouldn’t have done this after all…
"Lucky... Sure. If ya say so. An' if I enjoy da stroll depen's entirely on wat be gonna 'appen. Bu' I suppose ya can't really tell me anyt'in' abou' dat eit'er." I spoke with a light tone of worry in my voice.
He responded cheerfully again. "Well, part of the -point- of these 'spirit walks'...Rrrk... is to find these things out of yourself. They have less of an impact if I just tell you..."
"But don't worry. I'll be here. I'm patient and this path is one trodden by many before you. And possibly many more soon, I think. Ah, a raven can dream..."
As he spoke he turned to fly upside down and I could’ve sworn I saw him smile, but Ravens can’t smile, so I just discarded that thought quickly again.
As I rounded the corner I could see what was the Refuge. Or what was left of it. Everything looked dead, broken and a dull color, as if nothing had lived here for a long, long time. A light breeze moved past and I couldn’t help but shiver. I voiced my concerns, but the Raven just shrugged it off and told me everyone here was slaughtered a while ago. He flew towards one of the buildings and settled down as I made my way carefully into the ruins. We spoke a little back and forth, small jokes, which kept me a little more cheerful, considering this place was a ruin. I reached what once used to be the fireplace, remains of a great beast still over the fire, but completely rotted. The smell was so bad I had to breathe through my mouth, but that didn’t make it much better, it only made me feel rather sick and I put my hand on my bulging stomach.
As I looked around I heard a noise, something close to sobbing. Scattered around me lay the remains of weapons and armor, and I picked up one of the broken weapons. It wasn’t much, but perhaps it would come of use somehow. Making my way towards the sobbing carefully, I held up a finger to the Raven to be quiet.
A female Draenei came into view and I noticed she was crying. She looked like one of the Rangari guards, and I wondered what she was doing here all alone. I cleared my throat and hoped I wouldn’t cause her too much of a scare. She didn’t respond to me at all. I reeled back from her anyway in surprise, noting she wasn’t crying tears, but more… a black ooze, running out of her eyesockets. Her face looked like a corpse, and she was wounded all over, rocking back and forth on the spot.
"Can ya even 'ear me?"
She didn’t reply, but the Raven did.
"Most Likely." Said the Raven. “Yet unless you are exceedingly patient, I should not worry too much about her. I would not worry about anything . She’s one of the lost. Rrrk. A shame. Spirits who could not let go. Usually they go to..Auchindoun. This one didn't. Couldn't accept the truth I suppose. Don't worry though, you have me! R-rawk!”
I looked up at the animal at this and stepped away from the figure. I didn’t have time to deal with her, I had to find Sadok, or something related to him if I could. We made our way towards the larger building in the Refuge, maybe some clues were to be found here. This place still gave me the creeps. Portent flew up behind me, asking if I’d seen anything yet that would lead me to Sadok. I shook my head in response and moved into the building, on guard. I could see a lot of flayed corpses in the room, clearly Orcish. The odd thing was that they were all hung to the wall with spikes through their hands, and had no faces anymore. It almost looked as if something had clawed them off, including the rest of their skin as well. My stomach churned again and I damned this pregnancy, making me feel so sick so often. This wasn’t anything I’d not seen before. Flies flew around the corpses, though they looked to be very dry.
"Demon Invasions. Never seen the point of all this brutality...any of yours?"
I jumped a little at the voice before realizing it was just the Raven who followed me in. I sighed and my voice was soft as I responded, as if speaking out loud would awaken the dead in the room.
"Bah... Never liked dose damned demons. An'.. I dunno, I can't.. see deir faces." I said softly, looking over the corpse nearest to me. I could see nothing to tell who these orcs were, apart from a laughing skull mask I found under the rubble. As I picked it up, a dull rumble of thunder sounded from outside.
"A mask.. Well dat doesn't tell me muc', da guards 'ere were Laug'in' skull. I wonder if we be gonna fin' Sadok 'ere anyway, if dis be like... Da future. O' somet'in'.. 'E wasn't 'ere." I said, relief clear in my voice. No dead Sadok this time, so far.
"Well that's good then, isn't it?" beamed the raven. How it managed to do this with a solid beak, I didn’t know. "If he's meant to be found we'll find him on this path, I assure you..."
He turned to look back down the path we came from.
"Thunder. Hrm. Someone's getting hungry, I think! No matter, no matter, we have time aplenty...You know I knew a thunder-bird totem once. Why, she had the most frightful temper!”
I admit I zoned out a little at this point, not entirely listening to the bird as he kept on rattling about a shaman of some sort. This bird really talked too much.
“…Lead on then, Kyrazha, I'm sure there is more to see!"
Only when I heard my name I snapped out of it, turning my head.
"Erh. Ya. W'o be 'ungry t'oug'?" I said a bit distracted, turning to walk outside again and leave the corpses behind me. I took the Laughing Skull mask with me, for some reason. It just felt bad to leave it behind. My feet took me down the path towards the Iron Front as I remembered it. The raven followed me. "Oh, don't worry about it. Don't worry about anything. Rrk. Just idle chatter. I like to talk before we reach the end of our journeys. It helps lighten the mood, you know?"
The road ahead was dead as well, very quiet and the breeze coming up made me chilly in my bones. I shivered, still not trusting nor liking this forsaken version of Tanaan. Was I the only one here, together with that Raven and that shell of a Draenei?
It was a steep way down, and I had to make an effort not to fall, my balance already being off due to my stomach. This wasn’t how I remembered the road to be, at least. I managed my way below without slipping and looked around. More bodies all around, long since dead, accompanied by some beasts of war.
"Oh, Oh! Horse!" said the raven, elated. He flapped up to the nearest war-beast, still fresh despite the passage of time and pecked out an eye with a gory 'schlick'.
I wrinkled my nose in disgust and just looked away from the scene, yelling out to see if anyone was even still here. I got no response at all, apart from the Raven still speaking. I just let him yap away and looked around, noticing it was getting darker. The breeze was getting more chilly too and I shivered slightly. I decided to just walk over the front and started to walk towards where the citadel should be. "Oh, this way? Right way, thought you might want to look around a bit more first. Most people do...", the raven spoke behind me, following me with lazy flaps of his shadowy wings.
Everything was empty, everything was dead. It disturbed me to no end, what kind of place was this? Spikes stuck out from in the ground, creating long, dark shadows that surrounded me, giving the place an even more creepy feeling.
My voice sounded small as I spoke.
“It all seems ta be dead orcs an’ watever ‘ere anyway, I doub’ I be gonna fin’ somet’in’ “ I kept walking, the air around me feeling colder with every step and when I glanced over my shoulder, I noticed I couldn’t even look far behind me anymore, the road filled with a thick mist. “No going back now!” sounded the very cheerful voice of the Raven next to me.
“Ya soun’ very ‘appy abou’ dat fact.” I responded somewhat sullenly. The answer came soon enough. “Oh well. A job wel done and all that!”
I didn’t really know what he meant with that, but at that moment I felt something, so I got distracted. Something warm, familiar… Just from behind that tower over there. I hurried my way over to see what it was…
[To be continued…]
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