Encounter in the Ghostlands

NOTE: This story has been co-written by myself and Kyliska!

Kenzie Dawnsea entered the dilapidated building where Kyliska Sunfire was being held prisoner. She smirked as she made her way towards the cell that she was being held in. Kenzie had kept Kyliska there for a few weeks and had been torturing her, mostly emotionally. She was being forced to watch as Kenzie slept with her beloved Andithiel Felo’melorn. She would tear apart their Houses and cause strife between them. Also hurting someone close to Biara Sunfire always made Kenzie happy. She hated that bitch and she would hurt and feel pain as long as Kenzie lived.

Kenzie made her way to Kyli’s cell. She looked weak, and tired. Her face was bruised and there was dried blood on her body. It appeared that she had tried to find a way to escape. She tried to remove the manacle that was around her ankle, but to no avail. She was strong but not strong enough, especially with no magical ability. Her ankle was very bloody and bruised. Kenzie could see that Kyliska had not been eating much recently either. There was a lot of food that was left uneaten. She shrugged and made herself visible. She cleared her throat and Kyliska looked up at Kenzie. Only to Kyliska, she was looking at herself.

Kyliska stood up slowly and walked to the edge of the cell and stared at Kenzie. “Who in the fel are you, and why did you capture me?” she asked.

Kenzie laughed. “Oh my dear Kyliska, the truth will be revealed when I am good and ready for that to happen. I do hope you like your quarters.” she smirked. “I know they are not quite what you are used to, but I think they are quite nice!” Kenzie laughed again. She was enjoying Kyliska’s pain all too much.

Kyliska spit in Kenzie’s face. “You bitch! You will let me out of here right this instant! Give me my identity back and stop sleeping with my Andi!” Kyliska raged. Kenzie could see that Kyliska was broken, even her little outburst was not at the level that it usually was. Her plan was working quite well then. Kyliska started to cry, the tears streaming down her face.

Kenzie wiped the spit from her face and reached through bars to slap Kyliska in the face. “You will do well to know your place Kyliska. You are a traitorous bitch’s daughter and that is all you are and ever will be. Biara is not truly your sister and she will never love you as much as her flesh and blood.” Kenzie said coldly. “Also, your beloved Andi, well clearly he must not love you as much as you think either. Or else he would know that he has been sleeping with an imposter for weeks now. He has never once thought I was not you. How sad is that? Your soul mate, your one true love, cannot even tell that I am not you.”

Kyliska’s face fell. The sudden realization that Andi did not know she was missing hit her. She was just focused on the torture of watching him with another woman, and did not even think of the pure fact that he did not know it wasn’t her. She fell to the floor. Her will to keep trying to escape her prison had ended. Kenzie had broken her finally, and fully. She looked up to Kenzie who was still smiling at her. “You are right. He does not even question that you are not me. I…...maybe I deserve to be here. For all of my sins that I have committed. My father would be so ashamed of me if he knew all the things I have done.”

Kenzie stared back at Kyliska and talked softly. “I have no care for what your father would have thought of you, but yes your beloved, and your “sister” do not care that you are missing. I could be you forever and they would not care or notice.” she went to leave but turned back around. “Oh and you really should eat something, you will just fade away. Oh wait, no one will really care if that were to happen. I did include some wine though and also a little something extra to help take some of the pain away if you chose to do so.”

Kyliska looked towards the wineskins and then noticed something that for some reason she had overlooked before. It was a pouch of blood thistle. Somehow this imposter must have known that she was once addicted to the drug and left it for her. Kyliska began to sob as Kenzie walked away. Kenzie left the dungeon and could not wipe the smile of satisfaction off of her face. Her plan could not be working any better. She must now head back to Kyli’s estate and see to Andithiel again. She mounted Kyliska’s horse and started to ride towards the Ghostlands.

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The Ghostlands were dark and dreary, as they always were regardless of the time of year or even time of day. Muted sounds echoed beneath the oppressive stillness of the dead forest, the groans of distant undead and the sounds of predators taking prey as common as the crackle of dead leaves as Avielle’s deathcharger plodded along.

She had visited the city again, something that she was doing more frequently as of late, and was returning to the dark little piece of the Ghostlands that she called home. This far from the reclaimed lands in Eversong, the world was filled with danger and darkness. It was a home of sorts, and something she’d grown familiar with.

That was why the sound of a horse’s hooves echoing from the poorly paved road up ahead gave her pause. She yanked on the reins, her steed coming to a halt and giving out a little growl of irritation before she calmed it with a soothing hand. In the stillness the sounds she’d heard were growing louder, a rider approaching from deeper within the Ghostlands or perhaps the plaguelands. Whether it was friend or foe she would soon find out, for she was not of the habit of letting uninvited guests wander through the haunted forests unchallenged.

Avielle slipped from her mount, patting it and shooing it further up the trail, crouching down in the dead foliage and watching the trail ahead. She remained motionless as only the dead could, her glowing eyes the only sign of her as she waited. It took only moments for the rider to come into view; a blood elf on a Blood Knight’s charger, the figure not bearing the arms of a Knight perhaps but sitting regally as one.

Although the Blood Knights were the law of the land, it was still suspicious to see one out in the haunted wilds, and so when the rider came close enough, Avielle rose from her hiding place and stepped into the road, rune-spear held ready to gut the horse if the rider chose to advance further.

“In the name of Quel’Thalas, I command you to halt and identify yourself,” Avielle said calmly.

Kenzie slowed her horse down and looked at the elf that was talking. She smiled and spoke. “I am Kyliska Sunfire, not that it is any of your business Death Knight.”

Avielle’s mouth opened in shock, her eyes wide as her spear immediately moved to a non-threatening position, “K-kyliska did you say? But Sunfire? You have wed then, or was this always your surname?”

Kenzie stared at the Death Knight blankly. Why was she so concerned with what her new last name was? Her horse shifted slightly and Kenzie held the reins tightly. “You have not told me who you are, and also why are you so interested in my last name and who I am?”

Avielle nodded, offering the mounted elf a bow before looking back up at her, “My name is Avielle Silverlight, and if you are the Kyliska that I think you are, I have been seeking you for a very long time. I have an oath that must be fulfilled. I have sought you, or your mother, for the last several weeks.”

Kenzie looked at this Avielle with a confused look on her face. She shook her head and spoke. “Avielle, I am sorry but I have more pressing matters that need to be attended to. I cannot stay and talk about my sordid past and your supposed oaths. I must be going.”

Avielle gasped, rushing forward and grabbing the charger’s reins, her voice imploring and containing in it a hint of a banshee’s wail, “Please, I beg of you, stay but a moment and listen. As a Knight you must at least understand the need to uphold the honor of one’s name and station. It is vital that you hear me out, and that I learn of your mother as well!”

Kenzie gasped herself as Avielle ran towards her, she pulled back on the reins and the horse bucked and knocked her off. “What in the fel are you doing! Why would you charge me like that! My mother is dead and that is all you need to know, now please let me be!” Kenzie brushed herself off and attempted to get back onto her horse.

Avielle rushed to the fallen elf’s side, looking shocked. She reached out, brushing debris from the other elf’s clothing, her voice low, “I am so sorry to hear of Lady Sassariel’s death, Kyliska. Please know that I come before you not to seek revenge but to offer you hope instead. It is why I have sought you for so long; we are linked together, you and I, and you must hear me out.”

Avielle paused as the other elf got back in the saddle, a thought stirring in the back of her mind. She looked down at her hands; the hands that had just touched the Blood Knight, and then back up at the other elf, blinking a few times.

Kenzie looked at Avielle with a slightly confused look on her face. Sassariel, that was Kyli’s mother’s name! She tried to refresh the confused look and looked back to Avielle. “Maybe there is another time we can catch up on old times. I really must be going.” she looked towards the Death Knight and saw the expression on her face. “Are you alright?”

Avielle was no fool, and the look that passed across ‘Kyliska’s’ face at the mention of her mother’s name had not gone unnoticed. She stepped back a few steps, her back straightening. Although she attempted to conceal her emotions, there was a frigid coldness to her voice that had not been there a moment before, “Oh yes, of course, Lady Sunfire. I do apologize for causing you any inconvenience. I will let you be on your way now, and seek you out at a more opportune time.”

Kenzie nodded. “Yes thank-you.” she stated. “Let us meet and we can discuss these matters fully at a later date. Good day.”

Avielle bowed once, her gaze unwavering on the other elf, “Good day to you, Lady Sunfire.”

As Kenzie rode away, those two glowing eyes remained affixed on her back, the hard stare cold and unforgiving until it faded from view.

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After the ‘knight’ had ridden away, Avielle called out in the Language of Death. Her deathcharger trotted from the nearby foliage, coming to her side at her call. As she mounted, her mind ran over the encounter again and again, her suspicions deepening with each passing moment.

The Knight’s touch was not unpleasant, not light-filled. She did not feel uncomfortable in my presence. Even if she’d been used to fighting the undead, my touch should have been uncomfortable unless she is used to the touch of evil creatures. And she didn’t recognize Sassariel’s name immediately. Why? Too many why’s.

Avielle snapped the reins, her steed setting out in a fast trot through the dead forest. As she thought over the encounter yet again, she directed her mount towards the direction the Knight had come from. The road was long and dark, heading towards the distant plaguelands, the broken gates of Quel’Thalas not far off.

As she rode, Avielle scanned the terrain around her, checking to ensure that the Knight had not ridden from somewhere deeper in the woods. After a few minutes of riding, she suddenly tugged on the reins, bringing her steed to a halt. Something in the woods had caught her eye.

She dismounted, her plate armor clinking lightly as she moved with purpose towards the dead undergrowth in the forest to the right of the path. She pressed through crackling dead branches and piles of leaves, her eyes affixed on a strange lump laying beneath the brush.

As she bent down, Avielle pushed some branches aside, and her eyes widened as she revealed a dead Felhunter, it’s body pierced by the thrust of an ax. Wary now, Avielle drew her own blade, stalking through the clearing around the dead beast and studying the terrain. Her investigation revealed the presence of several more dead demons, and something else as well.

She kneeled down in the leaves, her spear in one hand and her face coming close to the ground. She held out her free hand, pressing it lightly against the ground in a spot that looked burned. Instantly the skin on her arm began to crack, the flesh flaking as it dried up. Avielle’s eyes widened and she withdrew her hand in shock, the remnants of the Light left at the scene of the battle evidence that a paladin had fought in this place, and recently.

Alarmed now, Avielle rose, dashing back towards her deathcharger. She hopped up into the saddle, the beast already moving as she took her seat, sensing her urgency. She snapped the reins hard, the beast dashing further up the trail now, towards the gates beyond.

If the ‘Knight’ had come from the plaguelands, there would be a trail. Avielle would discover her origins and what she had been doing. And then she would go back and discuss it with the imposter.

Cloak billowing out behind her, Avielle dashed into the darkness of the Ghostlands, heading for the plaguelands behind, the thud of her deathcharger’s hooves warning the denizens of the haunted forest to keep their distance, for a real undead threat now hunted her prey, and when she found out everything she needed to know, someone was going to answer her questions whether they liked it or not.