Musings of an Unliving (Poxis story)

[Rhonya]

((Seeing she's become pretty familiar for most of you orcs now, here a little insight in poor Daeyna's mind. Hope you enjoy reading it! ))

I remember it vividly, one of the memories that have always stuck with me even though some were now vague and distant, and others even gone, black holes in an already confused and chaotic mind. The sparks almost flew off the weapons as the saronite steel clashed on one another. The two swords parted, moved, and met again and again, the sound ringing through the dark and mostly empty graveyard. It was a dance of death, in multiple ways. I was standing there, to the side, Valeria close on the surface, watching and waiting. This was my moment, my brothers fighting had nothing to do with Valeria, they didn’t mean much to her, she never knew them well.

The tall and imposing figure of the Shadowpope was standing at my side, tense and ready to intervene, though it was useless to try. Unholy magic sparked through the air, making Dailors face even more pale than usual in the light reflecting on his white skin. As I looked back on the fighting, the dome shimmered around them. It protected them, but also meant their inevitable death. At least one of them would die this evening, it had been a promise and a curse, the dome would not lower until one of the bodies would be completely lifeless on the ground.

It wasn’t a normal fight between two warriors. They were my brothers, my trusted brothers. Grand Inquisitor, and Deathbringer. Two Deathknights in a dance of death, it was something special to behold, but also quite terrifying. The dome also protected those outside, but I could still feel and see the unholy death magics fill the air, see the damage they did to one another, the enormous strength that they both held. On the other side of the dome I could just see the forms of Solanna and Diederich, looking on as well. This is what it had ended into. The destruction of the Cult, the civil war between the two immensely powerful Priests, fought out between their Champions. Once, I’d been Dailors Champion. His guard, his shadow, his protector.. Until that one sermon. But that was a while ago already, and I was getting used to sharing my mind somewhat, even though Valeria and me didn’t always see eye to eye.

The fighting brought me back to the moment, the sounds of the weapons, the spells being woven. I didn’t know who I wanted to win. I had never wanted this fight at all.

Suddenly one of the two went down. I craned my neck with a loud crack to see who it was, and came to the conclusion that Dunderholm was done for. My closest one… But the youngest Deathknight of the two. Silence came down on the graveyard. A sadness filled me that I didn’t know I could still feel, in the normal bleak puddle of emotions that I could still call my own.  The dome disappeared, and the head of my beloved brother rolled several feet away, staring with empty eyes at the sky.

Drazhk wasn’t in a much better condition though. Almost crawling to keep himself up, he moved towards us, kneeling at Dailors feet and asking for his release. I yelled out, trying to stop him, but Dailor had promised compassion, so he gave it. The Shadowpope merely had to point a finger and a wave of immense Shadow magic blew my other brother apart as well. All was left was his blade. The blade where Dunderholms soul was now locked in, in torment.

While I left the rest to their bickering, I went in search of the blade. I found it resting against the stairs of the nearby crypt, and hovered my hands above it. I would not touch it. With everything I had in me, reaching for Valeria to help me, to the Shadow, for this justice, I managed to shatter the blade by overloading it.

“You’re free now, my brother, free to join the Shadow in the afterlife… Know the freedom I never had, I will not let you suffer…”




The wall in front of me was still the same. The same wall for days now, I knew the cracks and dirt stains by memory. Living still got the blessing of sleep, resting their head and mind for several hours and just forgetting everything.

I didn’t.

My eyes were always open, always seeing, always noticing things around me. I could not rest, I could not lose myself in blessed darkness, nor could I shut out the sounds around me. The shuffling of feet up and down the stairs, the breathing of my guards, the heartbeat in their chest. It was an ever present pounding in my ears, annoying me to no end. If I could, I would have just grabbed those green throats and squeezed until the life would disappear from their eyes and the pounding stopped, like a drum gone silent. But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t even turn properly, only having a spine and a set of hips to actually control my movements, seeing my neck was a bit of a sensitive spot now. Half of the skin there was also gone, blackened and burned. On my chest rested the amulet that I’d gotten, the amulet that Sedah had said would prevent anyone from entering my mind. I could feel it working, a dull, pressing feeling as I couldn’t reach out for my always present shadow anyway. Valeria was stirring, she could feel the changes just as I did, the hammering on the barrier in my mind stopped for now. Always she tried, to find cracks, weak spots in the magic wall that kept her out. Something to rip it apart from, everything would do.

Sedah… His ideas infuriated me, the nerve he had to decide such changes in my unlife, probably making things only worse if he really would press on with the idea. He wouldn’t listen though to me… Somehow he’d taken it upon himself to try and save me, protect me, though I still didn’t really understand why. He’d only known me for a little while now, never showing much interest in me back in the days of the Hand. So why was I suddenly so much to him? Was it really just compassion driving him, or a sense of justice?

I couldn’t figure it out, at least. All I knew is that I wanted to get out of that place. Away from these walls with their cracks, away from those thumping hearts, away from them all making fun of me and looking down on me.

I warned them every time. They never listened…

[Grekthar]

((I know my memories a little skittish at times for some events... but when the heck did that duel take place? O.o ))

[Rhonya]

((At the ending of the Cult Like...a year ago or such? It was the start of the end, the actual split up between Dailor and Diederich, and everyone of the cult picking a side. And Dunder and Drazhk dying together, of course...))