Faded Hearts- Part 3

Elunearia's boots stirred up dust in the dim light of the moon. The defile into which she passed was gloom-shrouded, the light of the stars and moon above making little headway into its deeper portions. The priestess had been traveling much of the night, intent on reaching her goal and putting an end to whatever menace lurked in this region of Azeroth. Each night her dreams had been assaulted by terrors, and she found herself more and more sleeping by the light of day and staying awake at night as a means to protect herself from whatever was haunting her.

With a last look at the moonlit dusty ground behind her, she slipped into the defile and let the darkness surround her. Her eyes quickly began to adjust, picking out details that a human might miss; her keen elven eyesight and her centuries of living as a Kaldorei had afforded her a comfort with the night that few others would have had in such a place.

At first she saw nothing, but as she pressed deeper into the darkness she began to see the silhouettes of shuffling forms ahead of her, and a small glimmer of light in the deepest recess of the defile. As she drew closer, Elunearia gasped when she realized what she was looking at; dozens of undead skeletal warriors pressed in on a central point, blades raised as if they were in battle! She hurried her footsteps, coming within a few yards of the nearest unliving warriors as she tried to discern what their objective was.

There, surrounded on all sides and seemingly desperate to keep the undead at bay, a Sin'dorei stood with her hands raised, magic flaring around her. Elunearia's eyes widened as she recognized Seluna Dawnsea, the High Priestess of House Dawnsea.

"Priestess Dawnsea!" She shouted over the throng of unruly undead. "I'm coming! Just hold on a few moments more!"

"P-priestess Moonblade! I-I can't hold them off much longer! Please help me!" Seluna cried, her voice filled with desperation.

Elunearia immediately lashed out, her holy magic flaring brightly and illuminating the space around them. Undead warriors exploded into clouds of dust as her magic was unleashed, sent back to their rest with her holy power. Light shimmered in the air around her, and she pressed onward, intent on rescuing the other priestess. The undead in the area responded to this new threat, pressing in on all sides, trying to stab ancient rusted blades into her. Elunearia gasped as her holy shields barely held back the fury of the dead, her power draining as she was tested from all sides.

Her face a mask of grim concentration, the priestess began a Divine Hymn, her holy energies revitalizing her. She lashed out at the undead, driving them back into the recesses of the defile, their bones cracking and falling to dust from her holy Light. She advanced, coming closer to where Seluna had been menaced by the creatures and reaching out to the other elf to pull her to safety.

The only problem was, Seluna was no longer holding her hands up and casting her own magic. Instead, she was grinning maliciously at Elunearia. Even as the priestess watched in disbelief, Seluna's body erupted with tendrils of dark shadows, the magic whipping in the air around her. Before Elunearia could even react, dark magic lashed out at her, shattering the bubble of holy energy around her and lashing her in the face. The priestess fell to the dusty ground with a groan as Seluna laughed.

"It is a shame really, that so many useful creatures had to be destroyed to drain your magic out," Seluna purred as she advanced towards Elunearia's prone form. "Still, you must make little sacrifices sometimes to reach your goals." She laughed again, her magic slashing out at the other priestess and making her gasp with pain as her robes were torn open and the flesh beneath whipped with the dark power.

Elunearia struggled up off the ground, her arms raised over her face to ward off the magic that she was being lashed with. "B-but why...? Why would you do this...?"

Seluna smirked, her cold blue eyes blazing with power as more shadows wrapped around Elunearia and threw her back to the ground. Her magic was followed up by a mental assault that pierced Elunearia's wards, striking at her mind. The other priestess gasped and blood flowed freely from her nose as the power struck her. "Why? Because of your alliances fool. Did you really think you could walk away from Silvermoon? Did you think that you were not a piece on a game board? You are as dim witted as I thought, but fortunately your wits will not be required; only your body and your utter obedience."

Seluna stepped towards Elunearia, her movements more like a cat stalking its prey than an elf. She laughed as Elunearia feebly tried to rise from the ground, lashing her again and again and making more blood flow. She knelt beside the other elf, locking gazes with her as she brought the full force of her power to bear. "You will serve me, and I will use you to destroy my enemies."

As darkness descended on Elunearia's mind, she uttered a prayer to Elune; her last desperate act of faith before the power of the High Priestess of House Dawnsea. Almost instantly she could feel something deep within her answer the call, and a beam of moonlight glowed down on the two priestesses. Seluna gasped in shock, looking at Elunearia in dazed amazement as the other priestess surged to her feet. In desperation, Elunearia's hand shot out and grabbed Seluna by the throat.

Holy power flared around her, and the unexpected happened; Seluna began to scream in agony. As Elunearia's waning strength returned, the luminescence around the two increased, Elunearia's faith flowing in the very air. Light poured from her, and where it touched the dark priestess, she began to burn. She screamed, writhing in the grip of a power far greater than her own, grasping at the arm that held her like a vice.

Elunearia gritted her teeth and spat out words of prayer. "I don't know what you are, but the Light should not burn you so."

Seluna blinked through tears of agony, her gaze locked with Elunearia's. "Let me show you..." She began to sing, her voice ragged from the pain, her own prayer weaving around the two. Elunearia reeled in shock as the thoughts and emotions of the other priestess slammed into her, the song turning into the plaintive cry of a banshee.

Elunearia saw visions.

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She saw a group of Quel'dorei gathered in a circle. In the middle of them, a beautiful young red-headed elf weaved fire through the air, her spells a display of power and art that few would ever conceive of. In the vision, Elunearia could see the other elves around the central figure, clapping and laughing at the show, every faced filled with smiles. She looked in shock as one of the elves in the crowd turned and smiled at the show. Although he was very young, the priestess saw Vomher Wyrmcurse standing amongst the others, his face unlined by age and with an uncharacteristic smile upon it. He wore no gloves, and he appeared HAPPY. 

Before Elunearia could consider this, the vision shifted, the memories focusing on another elf in the crowd. Tall, with blonde hair and a warm smile, the priestess could feel her heart skip a beat as the elf looked through her to the magic user behind her. The vision faded.

Another vision took its place. The red-haired mage rode on horseback through the forest of Eversong, the blonde-haired male on his own horse beside her. They laughed and joked, and he looked at her with such longing and desire that Elunearia could feel her own heart moved with the emotion of the moment.

The vision shifted again, and now the two were slightly older, sitting on the shore beneath a moonlit sky, blankets beneath them as they shared a romantic moment. Elunearia's heart raced as she became the red-headed mage, and felt the lip of the other elf on her. She felt the tenderness, the love between them bonding them for a lifetime.

Again her vision shifted, and now Elunearia found herself on a sickbed. Her red hair flowed around her, damp with perspiration. Her knees were up before her and she felt agony in her loins. A hand squeezed hers, and she looked up to see him, gazing down at her with love and support even as the pain became almost unbearable. Another elf rose from the end of the bed, smiling at her. "You have a beautiful baby daughter..."

Once more the scene shifted, faster this time. A young red-headed elf child played on a balcony. In her hand, a wand spat fat globs of harmless magic into the air, and she laughed with delight. Elunearia found herself looking on the scene and smiling.

A brief glimpse of the child, now older, learning to ride a horse. The blonde elf stood beside the mount, speaking encouragement with words of love. Elunearia found herself watching the scene from a window, a slight hint of jealousy flowing through her as the elf cared for his daughter. Why didn't he pay attention to her? He could plainly see her in the window....

Again her view shifted. She was on the shore of Sillwhisper pond now. Her daughter was defiant! She refused to do her studies this day, and instead wanted to play with her friends in the forest! It was that little twit's fault, the blonde haired girl that her daughter was always playing with! She would have to talk to her father about this... She opened her mouth to call out, "Biar'athiel! Come over here THIS INSTANT. You will attend to your studies as I've told you or you will NOT be attending that ball with the Sunblade girl next weekend...."

Elunearia's mind rocked with shock. Biar'athiel....Biara....Seluna is....her mother!

The visions returned, faster and more frightening now, relentless in their intensity. She saw nearly a hundred years of life pass by, of devotion and dedication to an elf that she loved more than anything else in the whole world. She felt jealousy whenever he paid attention to their daughter, a daughter she had birthed only to make him happy. She felt the crushing weight of the obsession that one elf's love could bring, of the utter selflessness of her need to please Tel'athar.

And then she watched him die.

Pain. Misery. Agony the likes of which Elunearia had never felt before flowed through her. She wept bitterly as her beloved husband fell to the ground, pierced by the blades of cowards. She pushed through the crowd of elves that had done nothing to stop his fall, done nothing to save her precious heart's desire, her Tel'athar. She looked at them in despair and rage, and realized they were nothing, that the world was nothing without him, without her beloved.

She chose to die. She chose to make them die with her.

She suffered. She felt the magic burn her to ash, burn them all to ash and in that moment, began her eternal punishment for the murders she had committed. Elunearia felt her torment, felt the decades of relentless accusation by the righteous dead she had sent to their untimely fate with her passion.

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It was more than a person could bear. Elunearia roughly shoved Seluna away, openly weeping as she felt everything the other elf had gone through. Seluna tumbled to the ground, shivering with unrestrained malice, unable to speak or move. Elunearia looked down on her with horror, part of her pitying the pathetic creature, another part realizing that she would never rest, never stop.

She had to be destroyed.

Her hands came up, holy power flaring along them. She gazed as Seluna no, Selun'athiel! with pity, and the other priestess looked up at her, an expression of almost relief in her eyes as their gazes met. Holy light burned as Elunearia prepared to release the tortured spirit to her fate.

An unbearable flash of Light illuminated the defile, and Elunearia covered her eyes as a vision appeared next to Seluna. She looked identical to the fallen priestess, but glowed with a Holy radiance. Golden wings adorned her back, and Elunearia realized it was an apparition of the Light.

"Would you be the flame that burns the unrighteous to nothing, only to be consumed in the process?" The apparition asked quietly. "Or would you be the Light that suffuses the world, bringing hope to others. That is the choice you must make now priestess."

Elunearia blinked in shock, her hands falling to her sides. "I...I'm not sure what you mean."

The apparition's head tilted and she offered a warm smile. "But you do. Long ago I gave my life so that this creature could be contained, so that she could be offered salvation and redemption for what she has done. I did this with faith in my heart, knowing that the Light could overcome all darkness, knowing that she would, in the end, save so many more when she was redeemed."

"But she's a monster!" Elunearia said in surprise. "She will kill and maim without pause."

The apparition nodded, her face a mask of sorrow. "So she will. For many years will she remain as she is, until she can at last learn that love is not a curse to be born for eternity, and that she can save other loves, other lives with her power. In the end, regardless of cost, she will bring the Light to many more if she is redeemed."

Elunearia nodded slowly. "I see...so...what should I do?"

"It is simple. You may choose now how YOUR course will flow. Do you take the life of this thing, knowing it will save a few and act as the righteous slayer of evil, or do you allow her to live, knowing she will bring great evil to the world, but eventually even greater good and Light. Are you the judge and executioner of the Light, or do you represent its faith and hope?" the apparition replied. "If you wish her to be destroyed, then I will not stop you. If you wish her to live, you will live with the burden of your choice, a sacrifice like I have made to the Light."

Silence reigned over the defile for a long time as the priestess thought about it. Finally she looked up at the apparition and nodded with a resigned look. "I am no judge. I am simply a faithful priestess of Elune. If the Light's plan is for her to be taught in such a fashion, I cannot interfere. I will not slay the creature, pitiful as it is. I swear it."

The apparition looked at Elunearia with sadness in her eyes. "You have chosen a difficult path, but in the end your Light will be the brighter for it. You must never speak of this again, for the burden is your own to bear, no matter the cost."

Elunearia's head bowed, "I understand."

Seluna's eyes widened as she looked between the apparition and the priestess. She surged to her feet, slapping Elunearia in the face. "NO! END IT! I CANNOT BEAR IT ANY LONGER! YOU'VE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS TO ME!"

Elunearia winced from the blow, and behind Seluna the apparition reached out, grabbing her shoulder. With another flare of blinding light, the two were gone and Elunearia was alone suddenly in the defile. On the wind, the shriek of a banshee could be heard, fading to nothing.

The priestess shivered, her mind and heart scarred by what she had witnessed in the visions, by the knowledge that a thing of such malice still existed because of her choice. She looked to the east, where the sun was just starting to rise. It gave her little solace.

She knew that the night would come again in but a short time.