I’ve Moved!

Yes, that’s right – Shizu finally joined the world of the awesome and switched to self-hosting.  My blog can now be found at the following address:

http://shizukera.com/blog

Since I have a number of comments and even a few incoming links, this site will remain open.  However, all the new stuff will now go to the new address, so be sure to update your links!

<3,

Shizu

Achievement-palooza!

WARNING: Large screenshots lie ahead! I resized them quite a lot, but I play on a 20″ 1600×900 monitor, so they may be like WHOOSH IN YOUR FACE if you play on a smaller one.

I’ve spent the last few weeks plugging away at a few of the items on my bucket list. I made a lot of progress. In fact, over the last week, I think I managed to knock off about half the things on it.

First, it was decreed that Serreina should reach 80. And lo, my first max-level alt came to be:

No, that’s not a glowy red ding – I missed the actual ding, having dinged on a mob kill. But I caught the achievement itself, and I was standing in my mage friend’s Flamestrike, which looks pretty darn cool if you ask me!

With that done, I plowed away at my remaining Alliance rep grind – Gnomeregan, possibly the most aggravating Alliance rep grind, which I’d saved for last since I wasn’t as far along in their rep as I was the others (I was not quite halfway through revered). After I finished the quest series, I bought a few commendation badges and voila! Ambassador title for me!

I stopped to laugh for a while, because if you’ve RP’d with Shizu you know how funny it would be for her, of all people, to actually be an ambassador. Many dignitaries would facepalm. Then I remembered something else, and I raced to Dun Morogh, where I completed another achievement I’ve been eyeballing for a while:

Yes, Shizu was 7 mounts away from the albino drake, and Gnomeregan happened to have 7 mounts available. Huzzah! And the albino drake is gorgeous, so here, have a gratuitous screenie:

With those achievements under my belt, I decided it was time to finish off my Silver Covenant and Argent Crusade reputations. Three days later, I hit exalted with the Silver Covenant. That left me about 4 days’ worth of dailies away from Argent Crusade exalted and the Crusader title, but I am impatient. So I took a deep breath, dove into /lookingforgroup (which, by the way, SUCKS if you’re dps), and waited patiently for someone to announce that they needed dps. One H-Utgarde Keep and one H-Violet Hold later:

Then I snickered at the very random, very silly thought of Shizu actually being knighted. “Highlord Fordring, sir, be careful with that blade. I have large ears…”

So, what’s next? The Silver Covenant hippogryph, of course. 85 seals and counting!

Profile: Serreina Nightfury

It’s a character profile! Serreina’s, to be precise. Pretty self-explanatory, but my posts feel incomplete without a little author note at the top … yeah, I know I’m a dork. :B

—-

BASICS

Name:  Serreina Nightfury
Race: Night Elf
Class:  Death Knight
Age:  Several thousand years. She refuses to be more specific.
Faction Affiliation:  Knights of the Ebon Blade
Home:  Acherus, the Ebon Hold
Family:  Faisaal, son; Shizukera, daughter; Taldarion Shatterbound, son-in-law
Other Significant People:  Alaric Nightfury (deceased), Elorith, Faeroh Moonreign, Kharsus, Sedaara, Syliah Runesong
Distinguishing Features:  Glowy death knight eyes. Large, sinister runeblade, which she named Sorrowblade. A massive scar on her chest and back where she was stabbed through the heart with a very large demonic weapon. Bits of ice and frost cling to her armor and her exposed skin.
Quirks:  Dislikes fire. Mildly afraid of paladins and priests (but mostly paladins). Absolutely terrified of the purified Ashbringer, though she hides it well. Yes, Tirion Fordring does make her jittery. Quietly contemplates stealing Mograine’s hat.
Faith: She continues to believe that both the Light and Elune exist and that their power is real, but she is highly displeased with both – the Light because it causes intense pain when she comes in contact with it, and Elune because she feels her goddess abandoned her and allowed her to become what she is now.
Likes:  Killing Scourge, eating Sedaara’s conjured cinnamon rolls.
Hates:  The Lich King, with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.
Her Greatest Fear:  That she’ll be killed in Northrend and be raised into the Lich King’s service yet again.
Personality:  Cold, focused, snarky, and full of carefully concealed rage, Serreina at first seems to retain very little of the humor and gentleness she was known for in life. Initially driven by a single purpose – to destroy the Lich King – she now struggles to reintegrate herself into the living world and atone for the dark acts she committed not only as a member of the Scourge, but also in the insanity that followed her release from the Lich King’s control. She keeps herself encased in ice, both literally and figuratively, and there are very few whom she counts as friends; but those who gain her trust will find that they have an intensely loyal friend and protector.

Other Factoids

Serreina died at Mt. Hyjal, before the creation of Teldrassil and before her people joined the Alliance. Therefore, the lands her people now call home are as alien to her as Outland. Cut off from Hyjal, unable to adjust to the corrupted Teldrassil, and still feeling lost in the other territories of the Alliance, Serreina considers Acherus the closest thing she has to a home. When she is not in Northrend and needs to conduct business with people who are not death knights, she prefers to stay in Stormwind or Ironforge.

She has also started keeping a journal. It’s a simple leather book with the emblem of the Ebon Blade embossed on it, which she might allow one to read, if one asks very nicely.

Faction Relations

Alliance:
Serreina barely even recognizes herself as a night elf, let alone a citizen of the Alliance; she considers herself more a representative to the Alliance than a member of it. She’ll fight to the death to protect the living from the Scourge because she feels no one deserves such a terrible fate, but ultimately her loyalty lies with Highlord Darion Mograine and the Ebon Blade, not with the Alliance or any of its leaders.

Horde:
Serreina has no real issues with the Horde. She served alongside plenty of former Horde members when she was Scourge, and she maintains her relationships with many of those who were liberated. She does frown upon the presence of the Warsong in Ashenvale – yes, there’s still a nature-loving night elf under that saronite armor – but she’s got better things to do with her time than squabble over trees. Like kill Scourge.

For the record, yes, she thinks both Varian and Garrosh are being abysmally stupid with the Alliance/Horde war shenanigans.

She’s also highly sympathetic to the Forsaken (minus the subfaction of them that created the Wrath Gate plague, of course) due to their shared experience of being raised from death and subjugated by the Lich King.

History in a Nutshell

In life, Serreina Nightfury was a priestess of Elune. She lived quite happily with her mate, Alaric Nightfury, and her two young children, Faisaal and Shizukera, until the War of the Shifting Sands. Both she and her mate survived, but the horrors of the battle had a profound effect on her. She returned to Hyjal with her family and spent the next millennium immersed in her studies, making a name for herself as a gifted healer.

Then came the Third War and the return of the Burning Legion. Serreina went to the front lines to heal those who were wounded in battle. In the final days of the war, the demons overwhelmed the unit she was watching over, injuring her son and killing her mate. Unable to stand against the demonic onslaught, Serreina was killed as well.

Sometime after the battle – after Archimonde’s defeat, the sacrifice of Nordrassil, and the night elves’ move away from Hyjal – Serreina was raised into the Lich King’s service and taken to Naxxramas, where she was trained as a death knight. Guided by the Lich King and empowered by her runeblade, Sorrowblade, she performed her duties with deadly efficiency and was eventually sent to Acherus to assist in the culling of the Scarlet Enclave.

Like many other death knights, she was released from the Lich King’s control at the battle of Light’s Hope Chapel. Unlike most of them, she went quite insane and ended up making several attempts to kill both Shizukera and her mate, the demon hunter Taldarion Shatterbound.

Unfortunately for Serreina, Highlord Darion Mograine found out what she was doing. Concerned for both her mental health and the safety of those at whose sides she would fight, he ordered her to remain behind while the rest of the newly freed death knights moved into Northrend. Devastated and enraged, she returned to Stormwind and made one last attempt to fulfill what she saw as the only duty remaining to her. As she battled Taldarion, Shizukera, unwilling to lose either her mother or her fiancé, leaped into the fray and shattered Sorrowblade, freeing both her mother’s soul and that of another death knight, Kharsus.

With her soul and her will fully restored at last, Serreina seeks to rebuild the relationships she herself nearly destroyed, beginning with her son and daughter, her son-in-law, Kharsus, and the Ebon Blade. Whether she will ever fully realize that goal remains to be seen.

Roleplay: From Beyond, She Comes (4)

Here it is – part 4 of the continuing series, “From Beyond, She Comes.”

I took a very different approach to this particular piece, as I wanted to get directly into Serreina’s head and document what she was going through as she attempted this particular act of insanity.  As such, it’s very stream-of-consciousness and I’ve done very little editing.  All the same, I hope you enjoy it!

—

“Serreina Nightfury, you are relieved of duty until further notice.  You will continue your training here and in Outland.  You are not to enter Northrend under any circumstances until I clear you to do so.  Have I made myself clear?”

“Sir – “

“There is only one acceptable answer, Serreina.”

I stood there for a solid minute, staring at Highlord Mograine, struggling to keep my emotions in check.  He stared back, his expression stern, yet his eyes revealed just the slightest touch of – was that sadness?   Regret?  Pity?

Sadness was pointless.  It would take more than regret to persuade the highlord to change the orders he had just given me.  And I certainly did not need his pity.  So I closed my eyes for a moment, struggling to keep my emotions in check.  When I opened them, Mograine was staring calmly back at me.  I drew myself up to my full height, looking down into the highlord’s eyes.

“Understood, sir.”

—

Even now, days later, I remember every word, every detail of that conversation.  I remember that undefinable look in Mograine’s eyes as he ordered me to stay behind while the rest of the order continues the march toward Icecrown.  I remember fighting back nearly uncontrollable rage, struggling to maintain my composure as I turned and walked away from the highlord.  I remember how the other knights watched me as I approached the gryphon that would take me back to Stormwind.  And the whispers.  I remember those too.

There were a lot of whispers.

Once again, I feel the rage building inside me.  Apparently it’s noticeable;  the passersby and even the city guards take a slightly wider path around me as I march past them.  My fingers curl into fists and a slight smile forms on my face as Sorrowblade’s consciousness stirs.

It is almost over, it whispers.

Yes.  It is almost over.

Kill them.

For the first time in quite some time, I experience doubt.  Uncertainty.  My powers are much weaker than they were when I was under the Lich King’s control.  I’m not sure I can kill them.  I can barely touch them.  Last time I tried, Shatterbound nearly tore my head off – literally.

They are making you weak.

They could also make me dead again.

They are making you sentimental and weakening your resolve.  You are weak now.  You will remain weak until you remove the source of the weakness.  Remember the strength you once had.  Remember their betrayal.

The fury builds again, growing into cold resolve.  Yes, I will kill them.  Or they will kill me.  Either way, it will end.  It has to end.  I cannot bear this turmoil any longer …

Only now Kharsus is here.  There’s only a bridge between my daughter and me, and here he is, trying to stop me as always.  It makes no sense.  I nearly decapitated him.  He shouldn’t be here.  Why won’t his soul stay inside Sorrowblade where it belongs?  Why does he keep coming back to torment me?  He is dead!  He should stay dead!

We argue.  That is what we do.  I very much hate him, especially now.  I do not wish to deal with him any longer.  So I run him through with my blade – again – then push him off into the canal.  Will he come back from that?  I’m sure he will.  If decapitation couldn’t kill him permanently, being run through and knocked into some water won’t do it.  But it will buy me the time I need to end this.

I cross the bridge and find myself standing face to face with Shatterbound.  Well, of course.  I always knew I’d have to go through him to get to Shizukera.  I don’t really expect to survive.  But it will be over at last.

Sorrowblade’s whispers grow louder in my mind.  Its hunger – my hunger, our hunger – increases, exquisite in its pain.  I do the only thing I can do.

I attack.

—

“Serreina.”

Mograine was standing behind me.  I wasn’t in the mood to continue the conversation from earlier, but I couldn’t exactly ignore the highlord.  So I took a deep breath, attempted to work my face into a neutral expression, and turned to face him.

“You just banned me from an entire continent, sir.”

He cocked his head, scrutinizing me.  I bit my lip and looked away.

“You want me to change your orders?  Then prove me wrong.”

I blinked.  “Sir?”

“Northrend will test you as you have never been tested before, death knight.  You will face reminders of your past at every turn.  It takes a certain presence of mind.  You think you’re ready?  You think you’re stable enough to fight at the Lich King’s doorstep?  Prove it.  Oh, and Serreina … “

I stared warily at him.  “Yes, sir?”

“You have a family.  You have a second chance to be a mother to your children.  Take advantage of the opportunity and stop trying to kill them.”

—

I yell in rage and frustration as Shatterbound catches my blade neatly between his hands.  Damn the demon hunter and his unnatural reflexes!  I feel the blade’s agony as it is assaulted by felfire;  I smile coldly as I unleash disease and the chill of death on the demon hunter.  Then I hear a voice.  Shizukera’s voice.

“I will end this!” she yells, and her fel-charged sword crashes down on Sorrowblade.

The runeblade shatters.

The pain is indescribable;  I feel it in every part of my body as my runeblade and my soul are torn asunder.  I fall to my knees as someone shrieks in agony, only vaguely aware that I am the one screaming.  The pain subsides, and I realize that the whispers in my mind, the voices that haunted me even after my release from the Lich King’s service, have gone silent at last.  The victims of the battle for Light’s Hope.  The hundreds I slaughtered during the purging of the Scarlet Enclave.  Countless others who died by my hand.  They are all gone.  Even Kharsus isn’t here to taunt me.

I am alone inside my own head.  I am truly free at last.  I am in pain, I have lost a piece of my soul … and I have never been so afraid.

Someone is standing next to me.  Kharsus.  He lifts me to my feet, his grip surprisingly gentle.  He’s looking at my daughter, and he’s smiling.  I’ve never seen him smile.  Then again, I’ve never seen him free.

“The blade is broken,” he says.

My grip on the pieces of Sorrowblade tightens.  “And with it, my soul.”

He looks at me appraisingly, then shakes his head.  Of course he disagrees.  He isn’t the one whose soul was torn apart.  I watch in silence as he thanks Shizukera and Shatterbound and calls forth a death gate.

“Let’s go home.”

The Cataclysm Bucket List

A bucket list is a list of stuff you want to do before you kick the bucket.  For most folks, such a list would probably consist of trips they want to take, shenanigans they want to pull (climbing a huge mountain, skydiving even though they’re afraid of heights, etc), estranged family and friends they’d like to make amends with, and so forth.

We, however, are WoW players, and a huge chunk of our beloved Azeroth will be getting rocked.  Inspired by a handful of posts around WoW.com and the WoW Ladies LJ community, I decided to make my very own pre-Cataclysm bucket list – things I want to do before Azeroth as we know it kicks the bucket.

Without further ado, here is Shizukéra’s bucket list, in no particular order:

1.    Frostsaber mount!  I’ve wanted one of these for a long time, partially because it matches my hunter’s pet and partially because I think it is the most beautiful land mount in all of WoW.  Evil rep grind is evil, but that’s what friends are for!  :grabs Taldarion:

2.    Get my death knight (frost tank) to 80.  She’s 74 already, plus I’ve got my own pocket dps in the form of my guildie’s mage, so that’s looking very doable.  Also, Northrend elite mobs hit like little girls.  I’m just sayin’.

3.    Get my tree druid to 80?  Considering I’d like to take a bit of a break from leveling after Serreina hits 80 to get her some gear and complete the Frostsaber grind, this is very likely to not happen.  I’m sure I can get him to at least 70, though, especially since I have the best leveling buddy ever.  :grabs Taldarion again:

4.    Finish the World Explorer achievement.  I know this will be easier in Cataclysm when we can fly in Azeroth, but I want to earn that achievement in the Azeroth Shizu grew up in.

5.    Take screenshots.  Lots and lots of screenshots.  Ashenvale and Azshara especially.  :makes ragey face at Blizzard:  </3

6.    Get this blog really going, with regular updates and whatnot.  Seriously, Shizu, what the heck?  :thwaps self:

7.    Get a Silver Covenant hippogryph.  Considering how diligently I don’t do those quests – seriously, jousting, wtf Tirion – this will take a while.

8.    Get Ambassador and 50 mounts.  I’m currently at 30 mounts, exalted with Stormwind and Darnassus and well into revered with the Exodar, Ironforge, and Gnomeregan.  Those remaining mounts, plus a couple more gryphons or netherdrakes, should get me to 50.

9.    Get Crusader title?  That depends on how much I really want to work on Argent Crusade and Silver Covenant rep, I suppose.  I’m revered with the Argent Crusade – how that happened, I have no idea;  I didn’t think I did that many quests for them before the tournament came in – and Silver Covenant, I’m literally one quest away from revered.  Of course, Crusader Shizukéra would be really cool … :grabs Argent Crusade tabard, eyes instances and weird jousty stuff:

10.    Finish writing Serreina’s introductory story arc.  Also write some stuff dealing with her service in the Scourge;  I have ideas regarding both Acherus and pre-Acherus, at least one of which has the potential to be very creepy.

11.    Integrate Faisaal, Khiraa, and Syliah into my main storyline a bit more tightly.  They have an important place, I just suck at showing it. 

So, what’s on your bucket list?

Obligatory BlizzCon Flailpost

Whew.  The rumor mill has been going wild over the last few weeks, hasn’t it?  All this stuff about expansions and races and Kalimdor possibly getting smashinated (oh my!) – well, you know how when there’s a movie coming out that everyone’s going crazy about because it’s getting hyped up and frothing at the mouth because it’s going to be the ~*BEST THING EVER*~?  Yeah, that’s what it’s been like around the WoW community.  I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now.

And I am going CRAZY!  I mean … worgen and goblins?  The shredding of Kalimdor?  Thrall as the new Guardian of Tirisfal?  Flying in old Azeroth?  There’s some weird notes running around and while some of it makes sense if I squint my eyes a little and look at it funny, some of it does not, and not all of it tickles my fancy.  And some of it just makes me go D: D: D:  If you talk to me on a regular basis you know exactly which part gives me sadfaces and you’re probably laughing at me.  Well, stop. 

So why haven’t I weighed in on the madness?  It’s definitely not for lack of opinions.  I have fairly strong opinions on pretty much everything that’s been leaked up to this point.  But I’ve not said anything other than rambly conversations with friends and guildies because up until now, it’s all been rumors and speculation.  Wild speculation.  Very, very wild speculation.  The way I see it is, until it comes from the blues, it’s nothing but rumors.  Is there a reliable source leaking this craziness?  Is the stuff true?  Maybe, maybe not.  But the fact remains that we don’t really know what Blizzard is planning for the expansion until they themselves announce it.  Which, hopefully, they will do shortly – the opening of BlizzCon is, after all, less than an hour away at the time of this post.

So, I’m going to do what countless other ticketless folks are doing.  I’m going to curl up in front of my computer, fire up the live stream, grab a notepad, point my browser to the TwizzCon site, and see what happens over the next two days.

Bring it on, Blizzard!

/popcorn

Ficlet: Where Kings Walk

This was my entry for the Midsummer Night’s RP writing contest sponsored by LoreCrafted, Too Many Annas, and WTT:RP.  It references Where Kings Walk, the final quest in the death knight starting quest chain, and it is set just before the events you’ve read about in the series “From Beyond, She Comes.”

Since it didn’t accomplish what I hoped it would, I am humbly requesting feedback on this one.  The good, the bad, and the ugly – bring it, yo.  I’d like to know what needs to be improved so I can be more awesome in the future.  And trust me, you don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings;  I have a thick skin. 

Enjoy!

—-

Serreina Nightfury stood at the edge of the pier, gazing out across the sea. To the north, across the frozen sea, lay the harsh, unwelcoming continent of Northrend – the home of the Scourge.

The home of the Lich King.

Her jaw tightened; her hands curled into fists at her side. She thought about the letter from Fordring, the letter that had saved her life, such as it was. Its words were forever burned into her memory; bits of the text floated through her mind now.

The soul of a champion. Former hero of the Alliance. Knights of the Ebon Blade … turned against their former master. The end of the Scourge. Blood and honor.

A champion. A hero. Honor.

Serreina laughed. A champion? Oh, yes, some champion she was – raised into the service of the very enemy at whose hands she had died, proud servant to a master who had turned out to be treacherous to the core. A hero? She had died a fool’s death, having failed to pay attention to what approached from behind – she could still see her sisters fall, the enemy sword protruding from her chest, the expressions of horror on the faces of her own husband, son, and daughter as they watched her die. A fleeting glimpse of the demons bearing down on her beloved family as she fell into death.

And honor …

She knelt down and drew Sorrowblade from its sheath, her eyes fixed on the runes etched along its length. These were runes of death and pain and blood, designed to torture and maim and destroy the enemies of the Scourge and draw their souls into the very blade that had killed them. The runeblade had been and still was an extension of her own body and soul; even now it remained inextricably linked to her, constantly whispering, constantly hungering, constantly desiring the blood of its foes.

As a priestess of Elune, yes, she had been a woman of honor. As a death knight, she was the cruelest of killers – cold, heartless, merciless, unrepentant. There was no honor in this. Blood, yes. Honor, no.

Rising, Serreina turned her gaze once again toward Northrend. Was that her goal now? Was that her purpose? To destroy the Scouge and end the Lich King’s reign - that was the stated purpose of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, was it not? But if that was her purpose, then why did she feel so cold and empty? Had the Lich King’s control really changed her so much? Was she truly so damaged?

Serreina stared across the sea for a moment longer; then, with a sigh, she forced herself to turn away. A champion, a hero, a woman of honor … perhaps one day, she would be these things again.

But not yet. She would take care of personal business first, perhaps prove herself in other battlefields; then maybe – maybe – she would join the fight in Northrend.

She took a deep breath, slipped Sorrowblade back into its sheath, and began the walk back to Stormwind.

Roleplay: From Beyond, She Comes (3)

Here it is, the long-overdue third installment in the continuing story of Serreina Nightfury.  Enjoy!

—-

Serreina stood at the edge of the dock with her runeblade in hand, gazing out across the sea.  Her hood was pulled back, and her limp hair fluttered lightly in the breeze, but she barely noticed;  her thoughts were back in Shattrath, her mind focused on what had occurred there.

She hadn’t been particularly smart, confronting them there.  Trying to take them on at the same time hadn’t been all that wise either – in fact, that had been a patently terrible idea.  She’d taken on far larger numbers and survived, of course, but she had never faced even one demon hunter, let alone two.  She had underestimated the power Shizukera and Shatterbound wielded, and that lapse had nearly gotten her killed.

Decapitated, to be exact …

The death knight rubbed her throat, grimacing.  That had been another mistake – she had watched him as he harnessed his power, growing larger and stronger and more powerful, and yet she had foolishly allowed him to get close enough to touch her.  He had a hell of a grip, too;  he had simply caught her chest armor in one hand and her neck in the other and pulled, while she had boiled his blood and afflicted him with diseases.  If Shizukera and Kharsus hadn’t interfered, Serreina knew that both she and Shatterbound would be dead.  As it was, she had wounded both of them, but she had also lost her voice.  She fervently hoped this was temporary, because now when Kharsus spoke she had no choice but to listen.  That was annoying and inconvenient, partially because the former Scarlet Crusader was an arse, but mainly because he said many things that caused her resolve to waver.

The thought caused her lips to curl back in a sneer.  Oh yes, he said many things.  That she was insane;  that she couldn’t be trusted;  that she was utterly dependent on her runeblade, to the point that it controlled her, rather than the other way around.

Untrue …

She tightened her grip on Sorrowblade, listening as the runeblade whispered to her.  After several long moments she turned back toward Stormwind and whistled sharply.  Her deathcharger appeared at once, seeming to materialize from darkness and shadow.  She smiled.

I will defeat them still, she promised Sorrowblade silently.  I was uninformed and unprepared before.  Now I know better.  Now I know how to fight them

And I will make sure she is alone.

Her smile widened as she spurred her deathcharger on, racing back toward the city as quickly as the undead beast could carry her.  No, she wouldn’t be distracted.  She wouldn’t be dissuaded.

And she would not fail again.

Roleplay: From Beyond, She Comes (2)

This short story, written from Shizukera’s perspective, is part 2 in the RP series “From Beyond, She Comes.”  Enjoy!

~*~

Guess what, journal ~

Today I met my mother, who’s been dead for years.  She’s a death knight.  It was weird.

Shizukera Nightfury read over what she had just written and couldn’t help but laugh.  Weird?  Weird didn’t even begin to describe that experience.  Horrifying beyond imagining came a little closer.

The truth was, she had always wished there was a way to put her family together again. Of course, she knew that could never happen – she had seen her parents die;  she’d lost her mind for a time because of it – but what orphaned child doesn’t wish she could have her parents back again?

Well, she’d gotten her wish.  Half of it, at least.

Shizu shuddered.  She could see her mother clearly in her mind’s eye:  pale skin stretched across hollow cheekbones, the icy blue glow of necromantic magic shining through her sunken eyes, the cold smile as she made both her presence and her purpose known.  There was nothing left of the gentle priestess who had been Shizu’s mother.  All that remained was this dark, cruel, battle-hardened champion of the Scourge.

Former champion of the Scourge, Shizu silently corrected herself.  If Serreina was still under the Lich King’s control, she never would’ve made it out of the king’s throne room alive.  No, her mother was acting on her own will.  She truly wanted her daughter dead, and her son … and Taldarion.

That thought filled Shizu with rage.  She had learned long ago not to expect life to be fair, but this?   To have her mother returned to her as a death knight, deranged and merciless and set on killing her and two of the people she cared about more than anything or anyone else in this world – this after all that Shizu had already been through – wasn’t that a little too much?  She had never asked for much out of life, yet life insisted on piling shoveltusk droppings on her head.

The rage faded as quickly as it had formed, and Shizu sighed heavily.  Even now, having seen what Serreina Nightfury had become, she couldn’t let go of her desire to have her mother back.  Was there anything left of her?  Was there enough of her to save?  Maybe not.  It didn’t look like it.

But that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.

With another heavy sigh, Shizu laid her journal aside, scooted closer to her mate, and slipped into an uneasy, dream-riddled sleep.

Roleplay: From Beyond, She Comes (1)

Welcome!

I needed a good inaugural post, so I figured, what better way to get things rolling than with an RP snippet?  The fact that this piece represents the end of two and a half years of writer’s block makes it especially exciting to me.  *flails happily*

Profiles of involved characters to come.  Enjoy the story!

~*~

The death knight walked through the streets of Stormwind, her saronite greaves clanging sharply on the cobblestones. The city was crowded today, but she moved easily through the masses; even after the king’s proclamation, few of the city’s denizens truly trusted her kind and fewer still wished to touch her.

That was fine by her. She did not wish to touch them either.

She made her way to the trade district and slipped into the shadows between the buildings. Her hair had long since faded from its natural blue to a pale white, and her eyes burned with the icy blue glow of the necromantic magics that bound her to this unlife – a glow that was now partially obscured by the hood she had carefully arranged over her head. It wasn’t likely that the one she sought would recognize her. But her daughter had watched her die and still believed her to be dead, and the bustling trade district was the last place she would choose for a reunion with one of her children …

As she had expected, her daughter appeared within minutes, winding her way through the crowds near the auction house. Her hair was longer, less shaggy, a rich shade of purple instead of its natural midnight blue. She had grown – oh, she had grown so much! – and the death knight saw the gleam of an engagement ring around her finger. For an instant, the cold, hard shell around her soul cracked, and the former priestess smiled.

Shizukera, she thought. My child.

Then Shizukera turned around, and the smile froze on the death knight’s face. Her daughter was wearing a blindfold, the glow of her cursed sight clearly visible through the fabric, a telltale sign of the path she had chosen.

The path of the demon hunter.

A flood of emotions, forgotten and unfelt for so long, poured through the death knight’s consciousness. The stupid, foolish child! Had she forgotten what the Burning Legion had done to her world, to her people, to her father and her brother – and to her? They were the ones who had killed her; they were the reason she was locked in this damned unlife; if they hadn’t killed her, she couldn’t have been raised, pressed into the Lich King’s service, forced to torture and maim and kill hundreds – not just the Scarlet zealots, but countless innocents as well …

And now, her daughter, her own daughter, had made herself into one of them. She had willingly joined her soul to one of theirs. She might not look like one – not yet, at least – but in her soul, she was a demon.

The torrent of emotions froze, coalescing into icy resolve. Her daughter had betrayed her and she would pay for her betrayal.

Serreina Nightfury smiled.