Silence

[Rhonya]

Green flashed across the sky, again and again the light brightened up Rhonya’s face, making it seem a very sickly green color. Shadowmoon Valley.. One of the least favorite places in the world for her. She could see a lot from her spot on the tower. An Arakkoa forest to the left, or better, what remained of it. The huts were smashed, broken and ruined. Only spirits filled that place now, their ominous presence felt even by the orc shaman sitting on the tower.

Below were the ever going battles with the infernals, raining down from the sky to smash down on the orc defenses of the town. They were not very durable, but their never ending numbers made them a problem still. Behind those she could see the pools, bubbles of greenish magma coming up the surface, breaking and creating lazy ripples that broke against the sides of the lakes. Creatures roamed around the pools, some even went into them, the heat and corruption not even bothering them anymore as they used the magma as some nice hot bath.

Again she moved her gaze, over the barren lands. Nothing grew here apart from the odd trees surrounding the Arakkoa camp. Nothing more could grow here… Even the air she breathed felt heavy in her lungs, she could almost taste the corruption in there with every breath. It made her uncomfortable. Though the worst part of this land was the silence.

There were a lot of sounds around her, guards moving and going about their business, fighting outside, the ever going flash and thunder raging across the sky. No, the silence that bothered her was inside her head. Before, the demons had always been there, an unwelcome presence but a presence nonetheless. In Shadowmoon they had always been closer to her, faint whispers filling the back of her mind, words of promises and power. Not that she had really listened to them, but somehow it had been comforting to know she hadn’t been alone.

For the elements were silent here. She could reach out to her well known spirits, the spirit of water normally aiding her so well. But they felt very far away, clouded. Not to mention they were sometimes actually just unwilling to answer her due to the place she was in. If she opened up for the elements in this land, the ones she didn’t know, all she got was a huge headache because of the corruption these elemental spirits had undergone. Rhonya couldn’t work with those, they suffered, they screamed and they were unable to aid her.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she looked over the area again, her eyes falling on the huge volcano that was almost the center of this foul land. Green magma still came up from it. Gashuk had told her about that volcano… He told her it was the very place where the link with the elements was severed before Outlands became what it is now. Perhaps that was why her own spirits were so reluctant  to answer to her here…

Rhonya pushed herself to her feet, tired of looking at this land. She went down the tower, towards where her wolf was stabled with the other mounts of the tribe. Keren greeted her with a lazy wag of her tail and a lick over her face, which cheered her up a bit again.

“Let’s hope we won’t stay here for long, Keren…” She said softly, while feeding the wolf a piece of meat she’d picked up earlier. Not that the huge she-wolf would answer her, but it felt a bit less lonely still. She could speak to the others of the tribe, sure, but this place made her sad and angry, not the best company they could have.

“At least you’re always happy, are you not? As long as you’re fed and given attention to…” The wolf answered her with a low rumbling noise, more focused on the meat than on Rhonya. With a small smile the she-orc left the animal to her eating and moved on. It was time to go and prepare some herbs and potions… If she couldn’t heal with the spirits here, she’d have to find another way to keep her tribemembers up on their feet somehow.

With a heavy heart and heavy head, she set on her task in a lonely corner of the camp, surrounded by her silence and the noise of the land around her. Damn dark shamans… Rhonya just hoped they’d leave here soon… Leave the corruption behind again, the fel that was still alluring to her, even though the demons were gone. She still had the marks.. The marks of the rituals burned into her flesh. But she would resist, for her own sake and those around her. She had no other choice.

[Thrash'Nak]

D'awh, Rhonya forever the troubled. :< Nice story though.