A lost fight (story)

[Gridish]

The setting sun of the late evening, illuminates the lands of Nagrand in a yellow and red tinted light as Gridish is on his way back to Garadar.
At first glances, it's a peaceful evening in Nagrand. Branches of the trees dancing around while the wind leads them, sounds of the wildlife calling for one and other, and then there's Lofty, yapping, yelling and singing.
"So, when are we going to pick Celoa up again?" Lofty blabbers while immediately bumping into Gridish's side. "I don't want them to take too long.. I'll get lonely with Celoa!.. Gridish!... Gridiissh!!! Tell me!"
Without any interaction with Lofty at all, Gridish continues his way to Garadar calmly, looking through a book he received as a gift for taking Celoa on the tribe's travels. The book contains history of the lands of Nagrand.
"Gridiiiiish!!! Staaahp ignoring meeeee!!!" Lofty starts shouting and demanding. "I -COMMAND- you to te-." A strong gust picks up and blasts Lofty back a bit, causing him to lack behind.
Treebranches start dancing even more in response to the picking up of the wind as Gridish looks up from his book, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and lets a smile appear on his face.
"Lofty, it's a beautiful evenin out, isn't it?" Gridish looks back at Lofty while smiling, before looking around him again, watching a flack of owls glide in the wind. "Let's take a small break before reaching Garadar.. What do you say?"
Before Lofty could even respond, Gridish stepped away from the road, took a seat in the grass and looked over the plains of Nagrand, still fully illuminated by the setting sun.
Wind blowing through his tabard, the trees and the grass, creating an orchestra of nature's music. Reflection of the orange tinted sun in the patches of water, surrounded by the grassy lands.
While inspecting the lands and it's music, Gridish adjusts his seating and leans back on his hands, seeming at peace in his mind while Lofty slowly floats up to him and hovers in the air beside him, using Gridish as a windwall.
"Gridish...." Lofty says in a questioning voice. "Orcs within the tribe keep asking you why you keep me with you... and it's a valid question. You've learned most spells I contain, and truth be told.. The only thing I ever do is get in trouble. I don't really fit in.. Why haven't you gotten rid of me yet?"
Any signs of peace in Gridish's facial expression dissapeared, replaced by confusion and suprise while he turns his gaze to Lofty.
"Oh.. Now you're going to yell at me again.. aren't you?" Lofty whimpers and starts shivering a little in his place. "I'll be quiet.."
The wind picks up even more, making Gridish's tabard flap violently in the wind as Gridish continues peering at Lofty. The flack of owls quickly dive to the ground as the wind seems to be too strong for them to glide peacefully. Even some leaves let go of their branches and float into the nothingness of the skies, though Lofty hovers without any problems as Gridish is still acting as a windwall for him.
"There is no reason for me to yell at ye tonight, Lofty. Yer question is valid. Ye were assigned as a learning tome for me after all." Gridish looks up at to where the owls have landed. His confused  and suprised facial expression turns to a peaceful smile. "Do you see those owls over there? The ones that were gliding in the sky?"
Lofty lets out a soft "Mhm", almost unhearable by the sounds of the wind, the branches and the grass whistling in the wind. "What do ye think they are?" Lofty stays quiet while Gridish looks back down at him with a smile. "I see them as a family. They stick together through thick and thin. They take care for one and other when it's needed.. and they'll never abandon each other."
The strong gust settles and the owls take to the sky again, happily gliding in the wind. "Yer probably wonderin why I'm telling you this, hmm?" One of the owls dives to the ground, then quickly changes his travel direction and heads for the skies again, holding a rat in his beak as Gridish pauses.
"It's because I see you as my family, Lofty. Out of everyone I know so far, you're the one that has stuck with me the longest. You're the one that, eventhough ye're quite the pain in the arse at times, helped me become the arcanist I am today. Besides that, ye've helped me become the person I am today." Gridish looks down and pats Lofty gently on his cover " Yer my family and yer my best friend... Don't ye ever forget that."
Quickly after Gridish finished, a few more owls dive down to the ground, and quickly changing their travel direction, also carrying food in their beaks. Shortly after, the owls let the wind take them away and they dissapear in the distance.



Neighing of multiple animals can be heard feintly in a distance, catching both Gridish's and Lofty's attention as they both look around, searching for what animals are making the noises. A herd of Talbuk appear on the horizon. They're still neighing and looking around as they make their way to the pool of water.
Gridish points out torwards the Talbuk while leaning torwards Lofty. "There they are. They're makin the noises.. It's probably their drinkin spot." The herd of talbuk slowly make their way to the pool of water, some starting to graze and drink water while a few of them keep watch, making sure they don't fall prey to danger.
The white and purple tinted fur of the trip colours orange and reddish- brown in the light of the setting sun. "Wooowww... That's beautiful! Look at their furs in the sunlight!" Lofty says in a soft tone while the two gaze at the herd. "Why are those two over there looking around instead of eating and drinking??"
Gridish peers at the two that Lofty is talking about and smirks a little. "They are makin sure the rest of their pack doesn't get ambushed by other hungry wildlife, Lofty.... Soon they'll switch places with two others so they can eat and drink.. Just watch." Gridish nods slowly as he points out torwards the herd while explaining.
As Gridish predicted, two Talbuk take the spotters' positions and the old spotters turn to grazing and drinking. "That's the strength of the pack, Lofty.. A grand example of it. The Tribe does the same in situations. Part of the pack is busy with somethin, while others keep an eye on the surroundins. It's to keep the pack safe and make sure we're not up for any suprises."
Silence appears between the two as Gridish starts bringing up memories of the tribe. Situations where the strenght of the pack was reflected at it's finest. He slowly nods while in thought, slowly lowering his arm. "Stayin in a pack is important. It's somethin that Grogona and I try to keep fresh in the tribe's orcs' minds."
Lofty doesn't seem to be listening and continues staring at the herd, clearly impressed by the sight of the event unfolding in front of him.
The two continue to gaze at the trip while the herd does it's thing. A peaceful and beautiful sight unfolds into a scene of panic and terror in the blink of an eye as the Talbuk quickly jolt away. "W-what's happening?!?!" Lofty shouts as he peers in confusion at the jolting herd of Talbuk. Gridish softly pats lofty's cover and points at a couple of clefthoof make their way to the pool of water.
"The spotters spotted a threat.. A threat too great for their pack, so they decided to retreat." Gridish looks at Lofty, nodding and still pointing torwards the talbuk and the clefthoof. "That's the reason why there are spotters, Lofty. If not.. then they could've been trampeled."
Lofty lets out a soft gasping noise, then makes a nodding gesture, still gazing at where the herd of Talbuk were, still seeming quite confused. "Would orcs hunt for those Talbuk things?"
Lofty bursts out in laughter even before Gridish could answer him. "Ofcourse not.. What's that nice orc's name..? Uh.. Rhonni-... RHONYA! She has one, yes?" Gridish looks rather suprised, then chuckles and nods slowly "Aye.. Rhonni has a Talbuk. We would still hunt on them though. We also hunt worgs. We need to survive Lofty, and to survive, we need food." Gridish nods slowly while grinning. "One day, Rhonya will probably find a dead Talbuk while it's bein eaten by our worgs.."
Seemingly not amused with what Gridish said, Lofty rams against Gridish's head and starts shouting "THAT'S NOT FUNNY! THAT'S A HORRIBLE THING TO SAY! TALBUK ARE BEAUTIFUL CREATURES! YOU EVIL EVIL ORC! BAAADDDDDDD!!!!" Gridish does nothing but laugh at Lofty's outburst.
As time passes, Lofty calms down and starts hovering beside Gridish again, looking out at the field. A period of silence appears between the two. The only sound that is heard is the rinseling of the branches and the grass.
"Did you mean everything you said, Gridish?.. I mean.. about me being your family.. Not the Talbuk stuff." Lofty asks a bit in a low tone. Gridish looks down at Lofty with a smile and nods slowly. "Ye know yer my friend and my family. Ye shouldn't have to ask such questions, ye silly tome."
The two stare at each other in complete silence for a brief moment, only interupted by the soft breeze of  Nagrand's winds, carrying the branches and grass in the seemingly endless dance.
"W-... Well... Just so you know.. I also see you as family. I can't imagine being happy anywhere that you aren't." Lofty says in a low voice. "Can you promise me something..?" Gridish looks at Lofty with a confused sight, then nods slowly. "Promise me you won't ever abandon me."
Silence falls again between the two, Gridish peering at Lofty and Lofty hovering on his spot, shivering a little, seemingly distressed by what he just asked and what the answer might be.
"I promise ye Lofty... I'll never abandon ye. If we get seperated, then I'll come and find ye. Just like I did back at the horde gatherin in Silvermoon City. Remember when those trolls stole ye? I burned their entire camp down for ye!"
That broke the ice between the two and they both started laughing, clearly amused by the thoughts of the past. "Thank you Gridish... That means a lot to me." Lofty softly says, still snickering slightly. "That's all I wanted to know.. shall we continue our way back to Garadar? Today was a long day and you probably need your rest."
A short gust picks up and blows through Gridish's hair and tabard, flapping them around a bit before Gridish nods slowly and turns his gaze back to the field in front of them, Lofty doing the same.




( Picture not mine.)


As time passes, the dancing of the treebranches and the orchestra of nature simmers down, as the wind starts to settle. It was like nature had called it a night. The wind settles. the sun sets, leaving the orange tinted land in darkness and the sounds of wildlife dims.
"Lofty, ye still awake?" Gridish asks as he adjusts his seating again, pushing himself up from his hands and looks down at Lofty with a grin. "Ye ready to head back? It's gettin late."
While grabbing his stuff, Gridish takes one last glance over the lands he's been looking at all this time. He takes one more deep breath and smiles again, then starts traveling back to Garadar again with Lofty floating behind him.
Crickets sing in harmony, showing that there's still life at night within the lands of Nagrand as the two travel back to Garadar. Gridish, enjoying his walk back while happily looking around, still at peace in his mind.
"Gridish..." Lofty says in a low tone, unable for Gridish to hear him over the crickets' singing. " Gridish..!" This time Lofty says it a bit louder and Gridish looks back at Lofty, peering at him slightly. "I'm getting a real bad vibe right now.."
As if it's clockwork, the singing of the crickets starts to dim and Lofty starts to shiver and shake while hovering on one spot. "What kind of bad vibe, Lofty..?" Lofty stays silent, still shivering and shaking on the spot. "Yer probably imagining things, come on.. let's get goin. we're still a ways away from Garadar."
As Gridish is about to grab a hold of Lofty, he gets sidetracked by movement in the corner of his eye. The peacefulminded orc quickly turns into a focussed Arcanist while he unsheathes his blade and turns his entire body around in the direction of the movement. "Who goes there!" Gridish yells, without a response. "Show yerself!" Gridish shouts again and again without a response.
The lands of Nagrand have turned completely dark by this time of night as Gridish holds his blade out ahead of him, feeding it arcane power as he reaches a hand out torwards Lofty, that is shivering and shaking right behind him. "It might've just been a wanderin Talbuk, Lofty.. come on.. let's continue." Gridish says, quite unsure what to believe himself.
Lofty slowly floats up into Gridish's hand and nudges Gridish slightly in a signal that it's alright to move up. The sound of crickets has completely dissapeared at this moment. A feint light comes from Gridish's blade, still filled with arcane power and held in front of him, ready to stand his ground if needed.
"There are multiple of them... I can feel it, Gridish.." Lofty says while his voice breaks up a bit, shivering and shaking in Gridish's hand. The night turned from a peaceful and harmonic night to a tense and deadsilent night, darkness surrounding the orc and his tome as they continue following the path to Garadar, slowly.
Low voices appear beside the path that Gridish is traveling on "Is that the orc...(I think it is! It is!!) How can you be so sure? ( A tome! A talking tome!) Oh yes ofcourse! (Ofcourse indeed!!!)" As Gridish hears the voices, he turns his blade in their direction, turning his entire body, keeping Lofty on his back and shielding him from danger.
"Show yerselves! NOW!" Gridish shouts and commands. As if it's a response to Gridish's shouting, heavy footsteps can be heard coming from the bushes and the grass, slowly getting louder and getting closer, whispers coming from the same direction "That's him(him indeed!)" "What do we do? ( Kill kill kill!!)". The sounds of whispers and footsteps surround Gridish and his tome, before the sounds fade.
"We're surrounded."Lofty says in a low voice, shivering and shaking heavily in Gridish's hand. Blinded by the darkness of the night, it's impossible to make out who or even what has surrounded the orc, but he knows almost certainly what he's up against.
The moments of silence seem to last an eternity as the orc holds his defensive stance, desperately looking around him, knowing well enough that he won't be able to see who's surrounded him. His heart is racing, adrenaline and arcane power pumping through his vains waiting for the challenge ahead of him to reveal himself and ready for what's about to come.
"Hand it over and we'll let you live ( No we won't! We won't!!) Shut up! We will! ( Lier!!)" Laughter from multiple individuals can be heard, shortly after followed up by a ring of fire, lighting up Gridish's surroundings, though what he sees shocks him. He bares his teeth as he sees that he's surrounded by five ogres, both him and the ogres surrounded by a ring of fire.
The pounding of his heart is uncontrollable as he realizes in what kind of situation he's in. Sweat appears on Gridish's forehead as the combination of the mental pressure and the heat of the ring of fire get to him. "What do ye want?!" He shouts, turning on the spot and holding his blade out torwards the ogres in a threatening manner.
One of the ogres steps slightly forward in response to Gridish's question as the blade points torwards him. "We want the soulstone ( GIVE IT NOW!) It's not yours.. It's our master's ( GIVE IT! GIVE IT!). Give it now and we'll let you go ( NO! WE'LL KILL YOU SWIFTLY!)"
Gridish bares his teeth, growls and slashes torwards the Ogre, letting some of the arcane power clash out of the blade, torwards the ogre."Ye'll never get the soulstone! Never!" The ogre steps back in response to the slash and laughs. As if it's a qeueu, the other ogres laugh as well. "Foolish orc.. You're dead either way. Give it now and you'll die swiftly!(Swiftly and painless!)"
While the ogres laugh, gridish channels some arcane power to the hand he's holding Lofty in and freezes Lofty into a thin block of ice and whispers "Lofty.. get out of here. Get to safety. Go to the tribe and warn them.. Then return to Shattrath." A muffled, yet very clear protesting can be heard from the iceblock as Gridish tosses the iceblock through the fire. As Lofty lands on the other side, the iceblock shattering.
He tries to get back to Gridish, but is unable to by the ring of fire. "GRIDISH!.... GRIIIDIIIISH!!!!!" Lofty screams and yells, but without any response. The only thing Lofty hears is the laughter of the ogres and the raging of the fire.

(Duo to eceeding max chars, story continues in next post..)

[Gridish]

The peaceful Nagrand night, changed in the blink of an eye by the agression of the raging ring of fire, eluminating the inner circle and eluminating quite the surrounding outside of the circle as well.
Still laughing loudly and not noticing the toss nor the shouting, four ogres grab their wooden clubs and look at Gridish with wide grins, while the fifth ogre has his hands full on keeping the ring of fire up. "Are you ready to hand over the soulstone yet? ( Hand it over! NOW!)" the fifth ogre asks with a demanding sight torwards Gridish. Gridish simply growls in return while jabbing his blade in the orcs direction.
"Very well... (well indeed!!) Ogres, show this orc what we do to disobedient  types (Hit him!!)" The ogre grins and gestures torwards the ogres, then torwards Gridish.

The flames creating the circle intensify, causing a blinding light and a horrible heat, also sucking up a lot of the oxygen, giving Gridish a hard time breathing and concentrating. He lets out a loud and vicious growl while holding his balde out in front of him, stabbing at the ogres that approach him, but without prevail. One of the ogres tries to slam their club into Gridish's back however the orc arcanist swiftly casts a frostbarrier behind him, deflecting the club but shattering the ice that is weakend by the flames. An ogre from another direction tries to follow up his fellow ogre and attempts to slam his club into Gridish. Gridish responds with a swift duck, ducking under the club and slams his blade into the ogre's arm. Blood gushes down Gridish blade, followed up by a loud roar mixed with anger, pain and disgust that a small orc like Gridish just outskilled the brute force of the ogre.

"You hurt Bonder!(NOT BONDER! NO NO!!!) The flames intensify even more as the ogres' rage intensifies. Gridish covers his eyes with his arm in an attempt not to be blinded by the raging fire. "What are you brainless kodos waiting for?! Kill him!(kill him now for the master!)" The unarmed ogre commands. "Smash him dead (smooshed orc!!!)" The other four ogres obide the command and lift their clubs simultaneously and slam their mallets torwards Gridish. In the blink of an eye, Gridish creates a barrier of ice around him, blocking the clubs while sacrifising the ice barrier. Sharp ice shards fly around in the ring of fire, most of them melting in the walls of fire, but some of them cutting the skins of both the ogres and Gridish. Both parties let out painful howls and grunts as the shards cut open their skins. Gridish falls to a knee, gasping for air, sweat drippingfrom his face and blood dripping from his cuts, still holding his blade up torwards the ogres. "He's down! Kill him!!(YES MASTER WILL BE HAPPY)" The group of ogres raise their clubs again and slam themin Gridish's direction. The clubs are met once again by a shattering frostbarrier, though this time the shattering ice barrier is followed up by a frostbolt into one of the ogre's faces, pushing the ogre back into the wall of flames. The ogre screams in pain as he's engulfed by flames. The terrifying sound of a helpless lifeform being burnt to a crisp, friend or foe, is something you'd never want to hear. The other ogres look in terror at their burning friend as his screaming slowly fades.
The ogres look at each other, terrified, sad and simply said furious as they let out an ear deafening warcry, raising the raging flames even higher and raging. Unable to cope with the exstensive heat, the lack of oxygen and his powers drained by the barriers, Gridish drops his sword and drops his hands to the ground, bleeding, sweating and gasping for air while keeping his eyes shut from the flames.  Silence falls as the ogres continue to stare at their fallen friend. The only sounds thst can be heard are of Gridish's trouble breathing and the raging fire walls. The silence gets interupted as one of the ogres starts screaming in anger, runs torwards Gridish and kicks him in the stomach, lifting Gridish from the ground, turning half in the air and slamming onto the ground on his back with a loud thud. Gridish's gasping turns to gasping and squeeking while he reaches for his stomach.  The helpless orc lays on the ground as his vision fades slowly. The blinding light of the flames and blurry objects once known as the group of ogres are the only thing in Gridish's sight as  he lays on the ground. The unarmed ogre slowly walks to Gridish's bag that dropped from his body from the kick. He picks it up and shakes it. Books, scrolls, ink and a quill drop from it, together with a stone. "There it is!(MASTER!! MASTER!!!!)" The ogre picks it up with a grin then looks at the other ogres "Kill him.. we got what we want(MASTER IS COMING BACK!)" One of the ogres nods and slowly walks over to the fallen orc. He inspects the orc, then spits on him and kicks his side. A loud snap can be heard as the ogres foot inpacts Gridish's ribs. More gasping and sqeeking can be heard from Gridish as he lays there, still reaching for his stomach. Another moment of silence appears as the ogres stare at the helpless orc, covered in sweat and blood, crushed ribs and gasping for air. The raging flames slowly simmer down, until they have dissapeared. The ogre with the soulstone turns his back to the group of ogres and Gridish and starts walking off "I don't care who does it.. as long as someone kills the orc (KILL!!)" The ogre walks off into the darkness and dissapears.


The three remaining ogres stand around the defeat orc, screaming, pouting and fighting over who gets to kill him. "I wanna!" "No! My turn!!" The three ogres start pushing each other, followed up by punches and kicks before it ends up in an all out brawl. They step away into the field to get more room to fight for the kill, leaving Gridish gasping, squeeking, bleeding and sweating alone, in the darkness surrounding him. The only thing he can see is the night sky of Nagrand. He wlks through his life, thinking ofmemories, decisions he's made and hasn't made. Dreams that have come true and dreams that'll stay dreams. He shuts his eyes and sees his friends and his family. all of them waiting for him to return. Then the harsh reality hits him. This might be his final moment in this realm. In this body.
On these grounds. Tears roll down his cheeks and they blur his vision even more. The thought of failing all of those he's sworn to fight with, to fight for, to protect and to guard. The thought of leaving it all behind while protecting a stone.  Stone of the ogre that has scarred him for life. The one to which Gridish ended his life, and now his life comes to and end while the ogre will walk within this realm once again. Gridish growls lowly as he continues to gasp and squeek.
As he lays there, thinking of everything and nothing, feeling him losing the grasp on life slowly but surely, he opens his eyes slowly and looks up into the sky again, tears still running down his cheeks as he counts the final moments of his life down, waiting for the raging ogres to pick a winner. The ogres seem to be suprisingly quiet, Gridish notices and starts looking around slowly. After a short period of time, Gridish hears footsteps, light but swift footsteps closing in quickly. Soon he feels a soft touch on his cheek and a familiar voice "Gridish, is it yo-" a brief pause "- in name of the spirits... what have they done to you. Quickly, you two, open the portal. You two, get him on the stretcher.." another brief pause. "Don't worry Gridish. We're taking you to a safe place to take good care of you." That's the last thing Gridish hears before everything goes dark and silent.



((As for an ooc note. I am going to take a break from wow duo to some real life situations and because of me not enjoying the game at the moment. Have no fear as I plan to return. Hopefully that'll be in the near future! For those still wanting to chat with my amazingness, send me a pm with your skype stuff and I'll add you there! I love y'all (except grosh.. he's a smelly drunk icly) and I shall be seeing you lot around!)