((The first story for a new character, Balarae Sunhaven!))
The sun slanted down through the treetops on the mountain ridges far above, the fading day sending gleaming beams of light through the foliage and down into the narrow pass. Already the sky was turning pink and orange as the sun set, although between the jagged ridges of stone dusk was already beginning to settle.
In the middle of the narrow pass an ancient road wound its way between natural rock formations, the stones used to pave it long since worn down and turned, making for a difficult passage. It would have been an issue for carts or trade goods passing through the area, although such travelers had long since ceased to come that way. The road proved to be little difficulty for the talons of the pink and red hawkstrider as it made its way onwards towards a looming stone arch up ahead.
Atop the tall riding bird was an elf, her platinum blonde hair carefully pinned up to keep it out of her face while she was riding. She wore faded robes that had a number of magical symbols and wards on them, the gold and red of the outfit now dull and dirty from long travel. He belt pouches and the saddlebags on her hawkstrider bulged with magical components and objects along with her few meager possessions and travel supplies.
As the looming arches drew nearer, the elf pulled back on the reins, bringing the bird to a halt. Blue-green eyes gazed at the intricately carved stone pillars before her and the open passageway between them. She remained motionless for some time, the moment stretching on as memories stirred inside her.
It had been years since she had seen those arches; since she had contemplated passing through that gate. It had been years since she had gazed upon the gates of Quel'Thalas. Long, trying years filled with grief, anger, denial, and a decent into her own personal darkness. It had taken her a very long time to build up the courage to face those simple white pillars that guarded either side of the trail.
Her time spent wandering the Outlands, and later passing through the Dark Portal and making her way over the vast stretches of the Eastern Kingdoms had given her more than enough time to contemplate the fate she had been handed and the choices she'd made along the way. The original grief and anguish that the loss of her family and loved ones had stirred when Quel'Thalas fell to the Scourge had been slowly burned away, first by the fires of her determination, and later by the guilt that her choices had left her. Doubt had replaced certainty of purpose and remorse had replaced pride in work that should never have been undertaken.
For the longest time, for years even, she had lived inside a prison of her own mind. She had allowed the terrible things that had befallen her people to guide her actions. She had allowed grief and the burning need for revenge shape who she was, at the cost of her personal honor and dignity. It had taken a long time to come to understand that fact; the hardest thing a person could do was admit how very wrong they had been.
Balarae Sunhaven inhaled deeply, letting the breath out in a long gust of air, as if releasing years of built up tension. In this one moment, all of the threads of her life had finally fallen away, leaving only a singular course towards the future; a future she would have begun long ago if not for her own folly.
The mage bit her lip, frustration at herself rising up again and then passing away. Slowly her hands came up to her neck and removed a golden chain that rested there, a pendant on the end. She held the glittering gold object in the palm of her hand, staring at it from atop her hawkstrider.
"And so the past dies, and good riddance," her voice came out softly. Alone in the pass, there was no one to hear her speaking to herself. "Hopefully through those gates there is a place for me, not so that I can rest, but so that I can undo the past."
With a sigh, she jerked her hand, throwing the object she'd been looking at into the dirt. It glittered there, the gold catching the last rays of the sun as it set beyond the jagged peaks above her. Her eyes stayed on it a moment before she took up the reins in her hands once more. Through the gates ahead was the magical kingdom of Quel'Thalas. Devastated by the Scourge invasion, it had partially been rebuilt to its former glory. She would find a comfortable bed with silken sheets, fine wine, and rest at the end of her long road, but before she could claim any of these things she had to pass through those gates, and the region just beyond.
The Ghostlands. The place where her family, her lover, and everything she knew had perished in a single day of horror that had driven her down an insane path behind her fallen Prince. She would have to ride down that familiar road, and face those memories.
With a grimace on her face, the tanned blood elf snapped the reins once and the hawkstrider burst into motion, the white pillars passing on either side of her as she resolutely pressed forward. Behind her in the pass, a golden Firewing Signet was pressed into the dirt from the hawkstrider's passing, the last glimmer of the precious metal lost to the elf who had long ago defected, but had not yet forgiven herself for having joined them and the things she had done.
Balarae Sunhaven had Returned.
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