Part Two: Fire
Passion, the flame, warmth and a guiding light. Destruction, but not leaving an emptiness, but fertile ground. Anger, recklessness, an endless hunger for more.
Fire was for Rhonya one of the easiest elements to commune with, but it was always like treading on a very narrow path. One wrong step and that endless hunger would consume you as well.
Yet, she’d woken up on the scorched earth in Stonetalon, completely soaked for some reason. Next to her, the core of the water elemental that she had to return to Trakmar. She felt stronger, the thirst was gone and her wounds were nearly gone as well. She didn’t have much time to wonder about what had happened though, seeing a heat from nearby made her look up. A fire elemental. Larger than the water one had been. The scorching heat came off it in burning waves, making her lean back slightly.
Their conversation had been short but passionate, the elemental acting as Rhonya was used to from Fire by now. Angry, proud, not impressed easily. She knew how to handle it though. Not back down, don’t show any fear. Be firm but not disrespectful. He’d given her the next task after he realised who she was and why she was there. By that time he’d insulted her a few times already, but she let that slide. It was in his nature.
And so she had set out again, this time following another tiny elemental. Fire, of course. This one had the annoying tendency to flare up whenever it passed anything that could burn and set it alight. Rhonya had taken a moment to stock up on water again. Not to sustain the elemental this time, but to actually be able to douse the flames whenever it had started a fire again, even though she kept watchful eye on it and tried to prevent it from happening. The she-orc was also carrying small logs of wood now and twigs found along the way, that she fed the fire with that the elemental consisted of while making her way out of Stonetalon once more. This time though she took the northern exit, into the dark humid woods of Ashenvale.
There, the dry air changed drastically and rain began to pour down not long after she’d stepped between the large trees that blocked out most light. Now started the hard part of the journey.
“Right..” Rhonya spoke, turning towards the tiny fire elemental. “Listen. You probably won’t be able to start many fires here, with everything being so damp. But we need to move through the woods. Partly to keep you as dry as possible, and because the paths are just not safe. I know your big brother said he’d keep watch over us, but you… stand out. And elves really won’t be happy with me bringing fire into their woods.”
She wondered why she was even talking out loud, because while she’d been speaking, the little flame had moved away and actually tried to set one of the trees nearby on fire, not even paying attention to anything she said.
With a deep sigh she moved to pick it up. The heat didn’t burn her, but she knew not to hold on to it too long, for then she would be scorched. Rhonya set the little thing down next to her again, trying to shield it slightly from the droplets falling down. “Come on then…”
The trip was slow. It was difficult finding her way through the forest, especially because she kept being distracted by the little flame. It took most of the remaining day and night to even get halfway of where they had to be. In that time Rhonya had burned her own fingers from trying to get the elemental to stop running away from her, she’d taken several breaks under low hanging branches to fuel the fire that was the elemental, she’d fallen over several times and had nearly been attacked by a bunch of bears. Though she had managed to chase them off by dropping a handful of dry wood onto the elemental, making it flare up bigger and brighter than ever. Downside, the heat was actually a bit too much for her as well, so she wrapped some soaked garments around her face to be able to withstand it.
As if by miracle, she didn’t run into any elves. Maybe the large Fire Elemental had kept its word and distracted them from finding her.
Exhausted again, they reached the border of Darkshore. Not having slept, hardly having eaten something aside from what she could stuff into her face while walking. At least there was no shortage of water now with the rain, but she had to keep a very close eye on that she kept the elemental burning brightly enough. Darkshore added even more difficulty to that fact, seeing it was close to the sea and the forest was less dense.
Rhonya went on though. She was soaked to the bone, but her pack was dry and filled with wood. She’d wrapped a large, cured leather skin over the top of her pack, something she always carried with her supplies. It kept most of her things dry in times like this.
She felt the place they needed to be before she saw it. Corruption, the large fire elemental had said. She smaller one felt it too, because it suddenly picked up the pace and Rhonya had to run to keep up with it. As they reached the edge of the corruption though, Rhonya bend down to empty all the wood she had in her pack and ‘feed’ it to the elemental. As she did so however, her mind suddenly felt.. foggy.
There was no need to be scared. The she-orc relaxed entirely, something tugging on her consciousness to pull her further into the woods. On her back she felt the rune tattoo flare up in warning, but that was alright too. She didn’t need to heed that. It was fine, all would be fine…
The next thing she knew, she was standing at the centre of the corruption. The fire elemental was gone, she couldn’t see it anymore. But it didn’t matter.
A claw cupped her chin. Sharp, long nails dug into her skin and a shadow fell over her. Something massive was standing in front of her, looking down at her.
A deep, masculine voice sounded, coated in honey. It was the most beautiful voice she’d ever heard.
“What is this? A gift, so willingly walking into my domain? An orc, no less… I had not expected any of your kind to come this far.”
Red eyes looked down into hers. Somewhere deep inside Rhonya knew she was in danger, but something else kept pushing that away. It felt good, being here. There was no danger.
“Well, I am not one to turn those away that get stuck in my web. Let’s see what I caught, then…” the voice continued. Rhonya drank in every word, enthralled. The creature stepped even closer and looking up, she could see two majestic horns growing from his head, curling backwards over his head. His other claw moved to grasp the back of her head, his sharp nails combing through her hair. His eyes started to flare up slightly more, as did his claw..
“RETH RETH RETH!” A sudden noise came from Rhonya’s left and within seconds, a blaze of heat washed over her as the fire elemental made its way through the trees. It was huge now and randomly started to burn down everything around them.
The claws released her and a curse sounded in a language she didn’t speak. Rhonya felt herself dropping to the ground as the shadow moved away from her, the two red eyes disappearing.
What happened next was just a blur in her memories. The heat remained, but for some reason it didn’t harm her. Eventually she heard a scream and the stink of burning hair and flesh forced itself into her nostrils. Everything was burning. Rhonya closed her eyes and gave herself to the safety of the flames.
When the orc woke up again, she was alone. Alone in a large circle of blackened earth once more. No strange being, no fire elemental, nothing. She felt strangely clear of mind and realised she must’ve ran into the satyr that had corrupted this patch of the forest. She’d foolishly got caught into his enchantment. Grumbling to herself, Rhonya stood up.
“Fool… Such an idiot. He had warned me about a Satyr,” she said, more to herself than to anything around her, seeing there was nothing left anymore. Aside from one little thing that she noticed now, lying at her feet. A red, shiny core, still somewhat hot to the touch.
The little elemental…
“Guess we succeeded then…” Rhonya sighed.
Rhonya waited a little while longer, but as nothing else happened, she decided to start her trip back towards Razor Hill. She could do with a good night’s sleep. She’d find the nearest Horde outpost and request a wyvern to fly her back, even though she hated flying. Rhonya knew this wasn’t the end of the task yet, she’d only helped two out of five so far.
But for now…time to return home.
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A lot of us are doing the same thing, many of us have been playing Mag'har for several years already and will be racechanging to the allied race whenever they come out. So you certainly won't be alone in that. ^^
