(Roleplay Series, Part 3 of 3. Trigger warning – this post deals with attempted suicide)

(years later, on Azeroth)

Jae stood on the cliff overlooking the ocean. As she gazed into the violet sky with the multitudes of stars, she felt a sense of peace. But the turbulent, murky ocean below seemed to capture how she was feeling inside, and as she stood there she couldn’t help but feel that she should give into it, finally end her agony, the memories, and whatever suffering she would inflict on others simply by her presence.

She knew the naga would eat whatever remained of her. She would finish the nightmare, and nobody in this strange, forsaken place would ever remember that she existed.

Jae was so entranced in watching the water below that she didn’t hear the gallop of four mighty paws coming up behind her. She also didn’t hear the softly calling voice of the dwarf riding that mount at first.

“Jae?”

“Jae.”

“Jae!”

She finally heard the voice. “Yes, I am… Jae.”

“Don’t do this,” said the dwarf. “You were saved for a reason. You are not and do not have to be that person”.

“What are you talking about?” Jae screamed as she whipped around to look at the dwarf. “You have no IDEA what I have been through! You do not know me!”

“But I do.” Brynne said as she handed Jae a deep purple orb. Jae took the orb into both hands and gazed into it…

so many memories… nightmares…

She watched as she saw herself being captured by the orc warlocks in her homeland. She saw as the demons they summoned burned her flesh, melting her eyes, suffocating her with their sulfuric stench. She watched as they tortured her slowly, breaking each bone in her body, pulling her fingers, knees, and shoulders out of joint and ripping her hooves off. She saw them heal her back up, and proceed to do it again, for days at a time. Tears fell down her face as she watched demons force themselves on her for hours at a time, until she was on the verge of death… when she would then be re-healed and it would start all over again. This went on for days, months, years.

She was their toy. Their plaything. She was nothing to them, and nothing to herself.

It was when she watched herself, under demonic influence, go behind the lines of fire, and one-by-one snipe each of the remaining draenei defenders, thus ensuring the death of her people, that Jae threw the orb on the ground in disgust, her eyes flaring. “WHY ARE YOU SHOWING ME THIS??? Isn’t it enough that I had to live through it once?” she screamed.

“No, I show you this so that you will know that I know what you have been through. Your story is not over yet. The Light saved you for a reason.”

“Oh really? Well where was the Light during all this? Why did the Light allow me to be raped and beaten for years? Why did the Light allow me to betray my people? Because of me, my family and friends are all dead. I killed innocent defenders in battle, because I could. My people, what remain of them, are here partly because of me, for something I did. Everywhere I go here, there are Light-bearers, talking about goodness and justice and righteousness, but if they find out what I did, I will be put to death for treason. My life is over already… and honestly, I don’t WANT to remember the things that I have been through. Living them once was enough… remembering them everyday is just the continuation of the torture. And I have the Light to thank for that.”

And with that, Jae jumped off the cliff.

Or at least tried. Brynne cast a spell that took a hold of Jae’s mind for a moment, saving her a fraction of a second before she took that fateful step. Brynne pulled her back away from the edge.

“Listen Jae, I do not know why those things happened to you. I wish I did. But what you went through… would have killed a normal being, with or without the magic of the warlocks. You are strong, not just in body but in spirit. You do not want to die, or else you would have done so already. But more importantly, you have been saved because there is something inside of you, something unique to you, that other draenei do not have.”

The mind control broke just as Brynne finished her words, and Jae crumpled into a sobbing lump on the ground. “How do I know you’re not just another Light-bearer? You know what I did, how do I know that you will not turn me in to them?”

“Can ‘just another Light-bearer’ do this?” Brynne asked as she casually directed a beam of pure shadow energy at a nearby naga, killing them instantly. “I have trained in the Light, yes. But I have trained in Shadow as well. There is a balance that must be maintained. The Light, in its truest and purest form, is good and righteous. But beings misinterpret it, and do not always follow its teachings. If you wish to follow the Light, you must understand Shadow. Perhaps this is where your strength lies.”

“And what happens to me if… when they find out what I did?” Jae asked.

“I can help with that. I have friends that will love and accept you, and we have attained the trust of many ranking officials here. We will be able to ensure your safety, should it come to that. As a matter of fact, I am inviting you to join us and wear our tabard.”

“What do you want? Why are you offering me this?” Jae asked.

“I want nothing more than your safety, and to help you. As to why I am here… I was told of your coming.” Brynne answered.

“You were told of my coming? Who told you?”

“Let’s just say that the Naaru are not the only messengers of the Light. I was foretold that you would be here, and I am here to assist you in whatever way that I can, and to help you find who you are meant to be. You will be able to reach me at anytime, through use of this,” and she handed Jae a small jade stone. “just speak into it and I will answer.”

“Thank… you…” Jae said absently as she fiddled with the stone. “May I ask, what is your name?”

“Brynne. Brynne Stoutheart they call me.”

“Thank you Brynne. You are the first person that has shown me kindness here, that I feel I can trust.”

Brynne smiled to herself. “Certainly dear. Will you be alright or would you like for me to stay around for a while?”

“I… I think I’d like to be alone for a while. I can reach you with this, right?”

“You sure can, at any time. I’ll be off then… take care of yourself dear.”

“I will.”

(Roleplay Series, Part 2 of 3)

Vanechka didn’t open her eyes at first. She was aware of commotion surrounding her, of eerie sounds she couldn’t identify, and of the same disgusting smell she had endured in the forest. “Surely I couldn’t have survived,” she thought to herself. “Oh please, I hope I haven’t survived if they are still here.” She slowly willed her eyes open, and as she focused saw a large black, rocky wall in the distance. Realizing that she was laying down, and that what she was seeing was a ceiling, she turned her head to the side to see exactly where she was, and found her face-to-face with an imp surrounded with a green glow. He began jumping and squealing upon seeing her awaken, and ran off into the cave. Her head still felt like it was going to explode, and her whole body ached with the memories of what happened in the forest.

As Vanechka sat up, she saw that she was in a square iron cage in a huge, black cavern, on a ledge above the commotion. There were orcs and demons everywhere. Some orcs were perched over altars, performing chants and incantations. Others were struggling with demons that were appearing out of thin air and attacking their new masters. Vanechka would watch as the demons would claw and rip at their masters faces, while the warlocks would struggle with incantations to fend them off. Other warlocks, she could only presume them teachers of sorts, watched and would order their minions to kill the attacking demons only moments before the younger warlocks would die. Still more orcs were running back and forth, apparently at the request of other warlocks, as slaves and messengers. She watched one in particular with running with a limp, as he went to his master, gave him a message, and was promptly attacked by the warlock’s demon and ripped to shreds.

Repulsed, Vanechka turned away and saw a lone orc walking towards her cage with the original imp that she had seen, along with one of the gaseous blue demons and one of the female demons. She recognized the orc as the one that had declared her the property of the demons before.

“So she wakes up, does she? Too bad for you young one, you would be better off dead. Tell me, what is your name?” the orc sneered.

Vanechka just stared at the orc and didn’t say a word, not sure what kind of game the orc wanted to play. “Fine then, perhaps Malchek can coax it out of you.” The orc replied as the blue demon started towards the cage. He floated thru the bars and attacked Vanechka, ripping the skin on her arms and face, and burning her anywhere he touched. “Stop! Please make it stop!” Vanechka cried out, struggling against the incomprehensible weight of the demon over her. “Malchek! Down!” the orc called the demon off of Vanechka, and the demon managed to spit acid on her face before he finally left her. She tried to use the frayed hem of her dress to get the acid off, but the more she rubbed the worse it burned.

The orc said a quick chant and the burning subsided. “Malchek! We won’t do that to her yet. Save her beauty for now. Now you, what is your name?”

“My name is Vanechka.”

“I am Grug, Master Warlock, servant of Kil’Jaeden. You are of Kil’Jaeden’s people, are you not?”

“Kil’Jaeden is a traitor to our people. He is not one of us anymore,” she said defiantly.

“Well my dear, you will soon be one of his. You will be called Jae, after our mighty and glorious master. Vanechka is no more.”

“What are you talking about? I am Vanechka, and nothing you do will change that.”

“So naïve,” Grug said, rolling his eyes at her, “You have become acquainted with our demons already, let me formally introduce you. This,” pointing at the imp, “is an imp. Names are of no importance to you, as you will be meeting many more of their kind. The imps will be your favorite, as they will kill you very quickly.” Grug motioned over to the blue demon. “These are voidwalkers, they prefer to kill you slowly and painfully…” The female demon rocked her hips from side to side, and cracked her whip in the air as Grug said, “…and this beauty is known as a succubus. They enjoy seducing their victims with their charms, you will be lured to death and not realize it until it is too late. There are others as well, but you will have time enough to get to know them all.”

As Grug turned around and walked out of the cavern, he said, “I would advise you to rest for the night. Tomorrow, your hell begins.”

(Roleplay Series, Part 1 of 3)

Vanechka ran frantically through the woods, sweat glistening on her blue skin, as she tried to outpace her pursuers. She saw a clearing in the distance, just through the trees, and as much as she hated to be seen out in the open right now, she knew she had no choice. The woods were crawling with orcs; orcs who right now, wanted her dead or alive for who knows what.

She sprinted to the clearing, looking back over her shoulder constantly to make sure that no orcs were directly behind her. These were orc warlocks, much more dangerous than the normal orcs in the area. The orcs had been at relative peace with the Draenei people for a long time, but in the past few years, tensions had been growing between the two races. It wasn’t clear exactly why, but both groups had been on edge. Rumors flew of orcs delving into evil, demonic powers to try to “control” shadow powers, and that led to more rumors of the same orcs being controlled by the very demons they summoned. So far they had little proof that this was a danger to the draenei; the orcs kept to themselves for the most part.

At that moment however, nobody needed to convince Vanechka of anything. There was a slew of orcs in the woods, and they undoubtedly had demons with them and were intent on catching her. She could smell an unforgettable stench when they began summoning the demons, and right now the smell was all around her, making her nauseated but at the same time propelling her forward.

It actually propelled her so fast that she didn’t see the large, fallen tree in front of her until it was too late. She leapt over the giant log and tried to clear it unsuccessfully. Instead she began plunging down the hillside into a deep but narrow ravine. The rocks and pebbles on the hill skinned and scraped her face, arms, and legs as she tumbled helplessly and with full force into the ravine.

“Pah!” She exclaimed as she rolled to a halt at the bottom of the ravine. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and she couldn’t count the number of trees in front of her for sure. She stumbled up on her feet slowly; only to fall back down again as her joints gave out in excruciating pain. Her lower right leg seemed disjointed from the rest of her leg, and she realized that she wasn’t going to be running anywhere. She needed to hide, and fast.

She saw a grouping of large shrubberies next to the ravine wall not too far away, and she knew that if she could get there quickly that she could wait the orcs out. Her family would come looking for her eventually when she didn’t return from her evening walk, although today she did wander off her normal route. It didn’t matter, they would spread out and find her, and whatever warlocks might be loitering around would regret it.

She used all of her upper body strength and to drag herself to the bushes. She could smell the stench getting stronger, and she knew the demons were getting closer. Her heart was racing so fast that she wasn’t sure it was beating at all, and she heard rustlings in the brush above the ravine. She found a suitable sized gap in the shrubberies, just big enough for her to slide into, and she wedged herself behind the thickest part of the foliage, next to the ravine wall. She fought against the stench to take a deep breath as she dropped her head against the wall and shut her eyes in relief.

She opened them a second later to find the bushes gone and 6 orcs surrounding her with a host of demonic imps, large indigo colored monstrosities, and seductive female demons readying their whips. The orc directly in front of her instantly cast a shadowy aura to surround Vanechka with intangible bindings.

“Why do you do this to me? I haven’t done anything! Please let me go!” she cried, tears beginning to run down her face. “I was only taking a walk, I didn’t mean any harm!”

“I don’t think the Master will agree, young one. Your stupidity has cost you your freedom. You are ours now. No, you are theirs now.” he said as his eyes, glowing red, glanced towards the demons, “and such a pretty one too.” The females began circling around Vanechka, snapping their whips on the ground, snickering amongst themselves, and gesturing at Vanechka’s body. The imps began jumping in excited glee, and were obviously fighting against the control that the warlocks had on them for the moment. The dark blue, gaseous monsters began growing in size and roaring in approval.

The last thing Vanechka remembered as the demons began ravaging her was the overwhelming smell, the stench that pervaded their very being, and the feeling of hot fire being burned over every inch of her body. Then she mercifully blacked out.