Warnings in the Night

[Rhonya]

A chill filled the air, the sounds of the deep of the night coming in through the wide, open doors of the inn. It was very dark, the fire of the torches on the wall casting ominous, long shadows across the walls. If one stared too long at them, they could even resemble certain shapes, images on the wall, moving and dancing. Soft murmurs sounded through the building, some shapes here and there walking quietly through the cold rooms. Most of them were Forsaken, but here and there a visitor was visible, looking somewhat out of place, and probably feeling such as well.

One of these visitors was sitting on a mattress in one of the more quiet areas, where those that still had beating hearts could take their well needed sleep. Rhonya was arranging some of her furs around herself, shivering slightly as she sat there. Her mattress was pushed as far in the corner as she could have managed. She still didn’t like this place, at all. Especially this inn had some memories that she’d rather forget, but Rhonya had convinced herself that it was time to move on from those memories and forge some better ones with these Forsaken. Perhaps it would help her.
Rhonya’s first evening had been quite pleasant here. Not exactly planned though, moving away from the tribe so soon after they had reached Razor Hill, but unexpected circumstances had made her pack up her bags again and make way to the city of the Undead instead. And now she was here, in Brill… With a deep sigh, she rubbed her eyes, trying to make herself as comfortable as possible on the pile of furs. She –was- tired, it had been a long journey, especially because she hadn’t been able to rest yet after the journey to Razor Hill. She looked tiredly at one of the torches in the wall above her, the dancing fire and shadows slowly lulling her to sleep, and as she drifted away she could still see the flames branded on the inside of her eyelids…


The dark pressed in on her, almost as if it was a physical thing holding her down and preventing her from moving and breathing. A panic filled her, but she couldn’t do anything apart from staring into that darkness… A sound filled her head, so sudden and so loud that she closed her eyes in shock, though that didn’t change anything, the darkness was still there. Cackling, manic, fiendish cackling, all around her. Some light suddenly peeked through her eyelids and she opened her eyes again, only to see a strange pumpkin creature nearby, the hollows behind its eyes filled with a green fel flame.

"Hey, you! You seemed sort of new!" a skittish voice said, even though the pumpkin had no moving mouth. "But it turns out you know exactly what's bound to happen. You've seen the scum with those, uh.... Burning Legion folk, right? You really think that 'Truthflame' boy's any good for your health or that of your friends?" A low chuckle sounded, and she was confused a moment. Truthflame..? The newblood…

The darkness changed and shifted, though she still couldn’t move, pressed down by some invisible force. She could see the Blasted Lands, and figures running. As she focused more on the image, she could recognize some of the orcs… The tribe running, fleeing from hooded creatures in green robes, burning a way through everything with wicked green fel flames. Every orc that she saw turning to face them, was simply reduced to ashes by the hungry flames, and those not burning were cut down by the sickles the enemy carried, flaming runes visible, burned into the steel.
One of the figures slowly made his way through the burned grounds towards her, and as it moved a clawed hand to pull its cowl down, she recognized Ul’guruks face. There was no mistaking those burns on his face, though the expression and look in his now bright yellow eyes wasn’t one she recognized of him. Utter hatred, madness… His sickle came down upon her, and before she could even think of trying to scream or move away, everything went dark again.

"Old habits never die. He turned to us once, he'll do it again! This is a world of sacrifices, buddy, and I can tell you giving up that scarred little freak will do you good! Heck, would probably take some work off those grubby hands of yours, so take some advice from me, kid..." she heard the pumpkin say as it once more appeared at her side. Sudden felflames burned the plant away, revealing a wickedly grinning imp instead in its place. "Give us the boy and go home, or else I'm gonna make stuff..." he said, growing to twice her size within a flash "REAL unpleasant."  His harsh voice faded.


A sudden pain flaring on her back woke Rhonya up with a gasp, and she nearly hit her head against the wall as she sat up suddenly, drenched in sweat, the furs she was sitting in so tangled and wrapped around her legs that she could hardly move. Panting, she turned her head, the soft glow of the tattoo on her back even visible through the thin shirt she was wearing.

Rhonya took a moment to regain her calm, catch her breath, untangling her legs and taking a few sips of water from her waterskin. The felward had been dormant since it had been replaced there on her back, so it worried her that now it would respond… To a dream. But it only convinced her all the more that this hadn’t been a normal dream. Ul’guruk had to be warned… And some others as well. This was the fires doing… Those images in the ash, a few days before.  She’d seen them, but… clearly they had seen her as well.  Grunting softly, she grabbed her writing tools from her bag, and by the flickering light of the torch above her, she started to write…

[Okiba]

  great yet forboding stuff! More please!