Mists Into Shadows

IC Aesthetics and Writing for Dianesh Shadowsun - Ex-Sentinel - WRA (A)

[dianeshshadowsun]

It would arrive at the former sentinel’s doorstep, a finely finished wooden box. The top was etched with golden lines that suggested the shape of a face. Two indents were carved along the edge of the box. Carved with precision to fit a pair of thumbs. Something was etched along the beveled lid of the box in the same gold hue as the outlines in some cryptic series of symbols. A language primal and ancient yet twisted to appear almost uncomfortable to even look at. No note was left, and no one was seen leaving the box. It would just be there one morning, waiting for her.

Always early to rise, right alongside Velerodra, Dianesh’s mornings consisted of a simple ritual. Coffee and sitting on the front porch while watching the fog roll away from the sleepy mining town of Duiskwatch. 

This morning was no different, aside from the fact she nearly tripped over the unexpected box. With a muttered curse in Darnassian, she set her coffee aside and stooped to pick up the wooden container. 

A careful eye was given to it, looking over the golden etchings critically. It wasn’t lost on her that there was some discomfort to gazing, which only deepened her caution. This wasn’t Velerodra’s typical style, not by a long shot. Nor was it the style of any of her close friends or relatives. Eilithe, perhaps but the runes seemed out of place for her. 

Finding her way to her favored chair, she sat with one leg crossed, box in her lap, all while a free hand reached for her coffee. For a time she just stared at the thing, deep in thought as to what she might do with it. Caution dictated that it could very well be a terrible idea to open such a thing. Curiosity drove her to question what might lie within.  Eventually she set her coffee aside and nestled her thumbs into the notches, letting out a slow breath before carefully and slowly opening the lid, paying mind to any potential traps she might set off. 

[the-vision-sculptor]

The box would open in response to the former sentinel’s fingertips, the runes along the beveled edge would begin to fade and vanish symbol by symbol until all were gone. As the script faded a soft voice would speak what was once writen.

“A vision that was not meant for me, but for you. Open your eyes and see.”

There was nothing menacing about the voice, it spoke quietly. A fading murmur.

Within the box Dianesh would find an intricately carved ceremic death mask. Great care was taken to ensure the smallest details of the subject’s features were captured with an uncanny accuracy. The visage Dianesh would find herself staring at would be a familiar one. Her own. A mask of her own face carefully sculpted and set inside the box’s soft velvet interior. Whomever had created it had put a great deal of care into its creation.

Should the former Sentinal touch her ceremic visage she would find it was perfectly suited to be placed upon her face. There was no dark magic dwelling within mask, but there was magic radiating, something that felt natural and primal.

What she chose to do with the strange object was up to her.

[dianeshshadowsun]

The voice that came as the script faded sent a chill down Dianesh’s spine. Not one of those pleasing chills either. like when Velerodra rans her fingers along the bare flesh of her back. No, it was altogether more of a chill that she might feel as a premonition to ambush on the battlefield. 

Once that box was opened and the teacher was left staring at the mask, her mind shuddered to a halt. The craftsmanship was undeniable, masterful is skill but not the reason for her halted thoughts. That was entirely due to the fact that she was staring herself in the face. As long as she’d lived and as many places as she’d been on Azeroth, she knew what was now staring back at her with empty eyes. 

The lid was held above the box, as if she’d paused every muscle in her body once catching sight of the thing. For many long moments she stared, eyes roving over the mask. There seemed to be little reason this would have come from Velerodra, even less reason from anyone else she knew.

Like time suddenly resumed, she clapped the lid back on the box and set it aside, taking up her coffee to resume her morning ritual. There were a number of people she now needed to speak with and in the course of the day, she fully intended to.  

[dianeshshadowsun]

It would arrive at the former sentinel’s doorstep, a finely finished wooden box. The top was etched with golden lines that suggested the shape of a face. Two indents were carved along the edge of the box. Carved with precision to fit a pair of thumbs. Something was etched along the beveled lid of the box in the same gold hue as the outlines in some cryptic series of symbols. A language primal and ancient yet twisted to appear almost uncomfortable to even look at. No note was left, and no one was seen leaving the box. It would just be there one morning, waiting for her.

Always early to rise, right alongside Velerodra, Dianesh’s mornings consisted of a simple ritual. Coffee and sitting on the front porch while watching the fog roll away from the sleepy mining town of Duskwatch. 

This morning was no different, aside from the fact she nearly tripped over the unexpected box. With a muttered curse in Darnassian, she set her coffee aside and stooped to pick up the wooden container. 

A careful eye was given to it, looking over the golden etchings critically. It wasn’t lost on her that there was some discomfort to gazing, which only deepened her caution. This wasn’t Velerodra’s typical style, not by a long shot. Nor was it the style of any of her close friends or relatives. Eilithe, perhaps but the runes seemed out of place for her. 

Finding her way to her favored chair, she sat with one leg crossed, box in her lap, all while a free hand reached for her coffee. For a time she just stared at the thing, deep in thought as to what she might do with it. Caution dictated that it could very well be a terrible idea to open such a thing. Curiosity drove her to question what might lie within.  Eventually she set her coffee aside and nestled her thumbs into the notches, letting out a slow breath before carefully and slowly opening the lid, paying mind to any potential traps she might set off. 

[sin-energy-deactivated20250629]

[dianeshshadowsun]

"You know that little girl turned up with that sweet light-boy the Arbiter adopted?" The woman asked conversationally as she packed some fruit into a bag from her vendor cart for Dianesh. "I heard she is really a -demon-. Like, an -actual- demon. And you've seen the horns on The Admiral lately? Maybe they're right."

Dianesh rose a brow at the woman’s words, turning to face her once more. Her gaze had been elsewhere, watching a rarity that was a Lightforged Draenei walking the harbor. The expression on her face was blank and neutral as usual. “An actual demon? How very interesting that would be.” She sounded almost bored by the flippant rumor mongering. “Where did you hear such a thing? She is a child and could be hunted for such... Careless... Words.” 

The former sentinel set coins on the stand and took her sack of fruits and veggies - a list that Velerodra had told her to get. The bag came to rest on her hip as she looked at the woman expectantly. 

@eilitheduskbringer @kurel-andiel

[fujinumasatorus]

Where is the fool…… who spits upon god?

[untmd]

[lainduskhollow]

[hexandbalances]

[searchsystem]

Andreas Nicolas Fischer / Studio A N F / V0ID IV / Graphics / 2017

[dianeshshadowsun]

AAAAAA! More amazing art of Dianesh by @moonbaki!!! So good! 

[d4ybre4ker]

[ramonasphotos]

.

[dianeshshadowsun]

Stardust

The house in Auberdine. They had been there many times before, but had not returned since the father of Reveria and Dianesh had been slain. The part that was odd, was the report they’d received from Reveria herself, flying over the house. “There is light coming from the shed Vel…” So they had made their approach quietly and, in fact, there was light coming from between the cracks of the wallboards of the shed. Velerodra wanted to throw a rock to see if anyone was about while Dianesh wanted to approach in the shadows to peak in the shed door. They debated for several moments before Vel said something that was likely intended to be sassy but ended up having a completely different meaning. “Walking up to the door is just as dangerous as throwing the rock, stardust.” 

Dianesh had been completely pulled from her professional focus. “Did… You just call me Stardust?” Vel had shushed her with a “Focus.” The sentinel couldn’t help but smirk as she felt her heartbeat quicken for a moment. Vel got what she wanted, even if Dianesh felt like the monkette had saved that name for just such a moment, to get what she wanted. “Throw your rock.” Vel had been quick about it, like she knew her little name would get the result she wanted. The rock sailed through the air and shattered a window, drawing four robed and hooded figures from within the shed to investigate. 

The number of people was enough for surprise, as the shed was tiny and likely not able to hold four people comfortably. It was decided the pair would split up, seeing as the four were searching in pairs. Velerodra took the two near the house, Dianesh, the pair by the shed. “You said you’re good at snatching, yes?” Vel was right. Dianesh had been a commander of the forward scouts and infiltrators for the Sentinels and this was just the kind of work she’d done for so long. Vel went through the broken window, making noise to draw the pair inside before hiding in the bathroom. The sentinel nearly killed the first person that she took with the sudden jolt to their person as she violently drug them in to the shadows, choking them into unconsciousness. Not a sound had been made, leaving their partner clueless. 

Velerodra had brought chain weapons today, ever the master of odd weapons. The pair in the house split up, one going down a hallway, the other wandering the open living and kitchen spaces. Vel got the drop on the one in the hall but luck was not on her side and her intial attack missed, an attempt to wrap his neck with her chain weapon. She struggled yet slithered away as Vel tended to do, only to eventually knock first one, then the other assailant out. Once Dianesh had taken her second, the pair met up and donned the robes of those they had taken down and moved into the shed. 

The reason for the number of people was soon revealed. A trap door, seamless in the floor was standing open. A flight of stairs led the pair to an underground passage, lined with torches that eventually opened up into an underground cavern. A massive idol to a god or goddess of death sat in the rear of the place, elegant, beautiful almost, with six arms that all held severed heads. Braziers with emerald flame roared on either side of it as a dozen or more robed and hooded.people searched workbenches, desks, shelves, crates, and more for something. A massive person with the voice of a man was bellowing orders to the rest before spotting Vel and Dia. Stalking up to them, he asked what the noise had been. Vel lied cleverly that it was a bird flying into a window but as she moved to walk away, the man grew suspicious. “What is the flavor of fear?” Vel had considered and then offered confidently “Sweet.” The next thing the pair knew, Vel was sailing through the air to land in a rough pile in the center of the cavern. Dianesh shadowstepped to the monkette as the massive cloaked figure bellowed. “Can you taste it brothers and sisters?! What is the flavor of fear?!” The choir like response from the cultists gathering around Vel and Dia was in unison. “Sublime, my brother.” 

It was clear that there were few or now options at this point. They could fight, which wouldn’t go well with how outnumbered they were. They could easily run but if these people were looking for something, Vel and Dia had an obligation not to allow them to find it. Dianesh looked around at all the hooded figures, daggers at the ready as Vel summoned claws of mist. Except those claws slowly turned bloody as she drained her own life fluid into them. With a violent flick the claws burst into a red mist as Velerodra summoned an ally that was not a part of the harbor. 

Once Vel had flicked her claws, the cultists charged forward. Dianesh blurred into a column of smoke, whirling around Vel as she took blow after blow. For as many as she took, she blocked just as many. Blood splattered across the monkette, Dia’s and others as the sentinel worked to keep Vel safe. A shield of mists formed around Dianesh, Vel’s way of helping her. It was overwhelming though and Dianesh was starting to feel the weight of blow after blow. Just when it seemed the cultists might close int completely, the ground bubbled with blood that formed into a circular puddle. From the puddle rose a heavily armored draenei, wielding a scythe that shimmered with ruinous powers. Blood shot out and turned into spears, goring over half the cultists with their own life fluids or those of Dianesh. 

“What a disgusting creature you are… Such wasted efforts…” The armored woman sneered from beneath her helmet as her scythe swung for the large man, who threw his robes back to reveal an amalgamation of bone and flesh formed into the shape of a man.”I need it.” Vel had said to the woman, who snorted. “Of course you do.” The rest of the cultists had rallied and charged once more at Vel and Dianesh. The monkette began to turn to mist as she spoke to Dianesh. “Follow my mists. Don’t breathe in though.” With that the monkette plummed into a cloud of mist that encircled the remaining foes. Dianesh followed that lead and billowed into smoke, intertwining with the mists to create a cloud of death. The pair worked together, Vel appearing as an apparition before their foes to distract them as Dianesh, while half half formed, shadowstepped and slit throats, leaving even more smoke in her wake. 

The last two cultists suffered terrible deaths as the hands of Velerodra. One was choking on the smoky misty mix, allow Vel time to shove a fist made of mist into the mouth before letting it burst to suffocate them completely. The pair soon separated, Dianesh’s billowing smoke coiling back together to reveal her and Vel, left with a mixture of mist and smoke, wound herself back together in a crackling display of emerald and jade light with flickers of shadows. Once she reformed, the mist lingered and revealed a form she rarely showed anyone. Needless to say it had claws of mist which she used to rip out the throat of the last cultist. Once done, the mist faded and Vel was just Vel once more. 

Both women fell to the ground at this point, Dianesh feeling every wound she’d taken despite the healing that melding as smoke and mist with Vel had done. It was almost as if the monkette could sense this as Dia drug herself over. No sooner had the sentinel reached her before Vel put her hand on Dianesh and sent a surge of healing mists throughout her entire body. While most of the small cuts and injuries to her internal organs were healed, there was only so much a mist spent Vel could do and a tired body could accept. She saved Dianesh’s life, stopping the terrible bleeding and seeing her organs restored. Vel was no slouch when it came to healing. The rest of the time was spent interrogating the flesh golem, with an introduction between Dianesh and the armored woman. “Oh, right… Dia, Koru. Koru, Dia…” Vel offhandedly said as Dianesh sized the woman up. “Velerodra has spoken highly of your skills.” Dianesh gave a slight nod as Koru looked over her, as if Velerodra had never once mentioned her. She otherwise played it off well for what time they spoke. Eventually, she faded into another pool of blood and vanished, leaving Dianesh and Velerodra to find whatever it was the cultists had searched for. 

It took some time and some puzzling but after a time the pair limped from the cavern and out into the fresh night air of Darkshore. Smoke billowed and plumed from the shed, signalling the fires that Velerodra had lit in the cavern. They walked about with two new things, a skull etched with death runes that Koruzziona had told them held the soul of whoever the person was it belonged to in life, and an obsidian tablet, with script chiseled in the language of the dead up it. Once they were a safe distance away, Velerodra turned and smiled at Dianesh. 

“We should go on more dates like this, stardust.” 

(Part 2 of 2) (Part 1 HERE)

Tagging @velerodra-valesinger​! Thank you for writing this incredibly fun arc with me! 

[dianeshshadowsun]

Heartache

“We will see if there is anything of interest in the city and if not… We can visit the old house.” It was a fairly typical way for Dianesh and Velerodra to approach a night in Stormwind. The city had its ups and downs and more often than not as of late, there was little that held the peculiar interests of the pair. Velerodra had been especially restless herself of late, ever since finding Haeshia and getting her to safety. The mysterious figure Vel simply referred to as ‘Koru’ was caring for the risen woman, though Dianesh had yet to meet her. Haeshia was a risen kaldorei woman, the circumstances of her raising still shrouded in mystery for the pair. Vel speculated that she was the daughter of Feril, though they had yet to confirm that with one hundred percent certainty. 

They came across Yurissa in their wanderings, who they spoke with for a time before wandering off once more. Arguments were had with the human woman Airid and Dianesh, in a rare moment of emotion, lost her cool. The master steward and this woman had been ‘making fun of’ a man that was having issues deciding on a name for a coming child. Most topics never saw Dianesh give more than a blank look but this one, this one hit all the closer to home. Only Eilithe and Velerodra had known prior to this night the reason why. Needless to say, despite her attempts at offering the alternative view, the abrasive Airid had insisted naming a child wasn’t hard. Frustration saw Dianesh walk away, an attempt on removing herself from the situation. The woman had followed though, and Dianesh lost her cool. She hissed out the reason for her position. ‘Giving birth to a stillborn child and then needing to decide on a name so that the grave marker might show who it was for is the most difficult thing in this world.’ 

She’d vanished into the shadows after the woman’s retort, which came off just as callous as the rest of her words. Solace was found in the graveyard, in the place she and Velerodra often took time to sit and talk. She wept, something that never happened, as she sliced a mark on her right forearm, one long line to underline all the other rows of marks she’d cut into her flesh over time. Velerodra had found her and verbally slapped her to get her out of the frame of mind she was in. In fact, the monkette completely turned the conversation in a different direction, which saw Dianesh become even more emotional. It was a moment that saw her say something she knew Velerodra may get squeamish with, something that she’d never said before and had never expected to say. “I love you…” The monkette’s reply was what Dianesh could have expected, as Vel ran fingers through the sentinel’s hair. “Of course you do. I am quite lovable. You are… Acceptable…” It was the tone of her words though and the way she choked up that Dianesh knew Velerodra shared her emotions on this. The deep rooted care for each other was there, even if the odd couple showed it in strange ways. 

After passionate kisses and an agreement to talk things out with Airid, they had gone in search of the woman, only to find she was no longer in the city. They came across Endessa who, for her part, helped lifted Dianesh’s spirits. Just as Dianesh was about to allow herself to eat a sweet treat, Velerodra wandered off, leaving Dianesh to play catch up. “Vel, where are you going?” The monkette’s reply came over the seal. “You know me Dia, where do you think?” (Part 1 of 2)

Tagging @velerodra-valesinger​ for mentions! 

Art by Loiu Jover

[thepersonalquotes]

[broodingsoul]

HOLY SHIT this woman at the gym was watching this dude do bicep curls at the gym, and he smiled and flexed and said “don’t worry I have a license for these” and she said “a learners permit doesn’t count as a license, are you about finished with that bench?”I ABOUT SCREAMED

[mikaeled]

Brooke Ence - WHAT IT TAKES