From the Shadows Rise...
Linedari turned the communicator over in her hand, eyeing it carefully as she sat leaned up against the tree behind her. It was the communicator that had been given to her at the Clandestine meeting that she had attended not too long ago, the same one that she had tried to give back. She didn't agree with the way things had changed while her and Satrethan had been gone, and she hadn't stepped foot on Erudition since she'd walked out of the meeting. Things had become... Segregated and where once she thought of them as family... She was beginning to see just how far those ties went. Distrust was evident in their words, not just against her, but against others. It had raised red fags, flags that she hadn't noticed before when she'd been distracted by everything that had been right in front of her. Something was off with them, and as they always said... Curiosity killed the cat... But satisfaction brought it back.
She set the communicator down in the grass beside her, laying it next to another communicator that had already been placed next to her. Grabbing her bag from her other side, she pulled it to her, opening the bag and pulling out a heavy, thick envelope that was still sealed with a wax emblem. Lin ran her fingers over the raised, black wax, tracing the elegant 'O' that the wax formed. A smirk tugged at her lips as fingers dove under the seal and she popped it open, lifting the flap of the envelope and pulling out the small stack of parchments. Eyes immediately settled on the handwritten note that was presented to her at the top of the stack.
My Little Shadow;
Too long has it been now that I have see the motivation and the drive in your eyes. I was afraid of what would be lost when you became an Ebon, but now I have seen with my own eyes when you came to me that death suits you, as if the final pieces to your puzzle have finally fallen into place. You are no longer that scared, moronic child that I took in so many years ago from Auger's Row. You have flourished, despite everything you have been trialed with. Every obstacle has been mastered by you, and I am proud of the person you have become.
But now, you are posed with a choice. You and your husband have spoken of your choices, and you came to me for guidance. I ignored you only because I could see it in your eyes what you wanted to do, you just didn't realize it yet. I trained you for this, Linedari. All of those years of training and brutalizing your skills has been for this very moment. You were always meant to be my successor, the one to take the torch when I was ready to pass it. I should have known that you would come for it whether I was ready or not.
That is why I have decided to help you and Satrethan. If anyone can handle this decision, it is the two of you... Together. Though I refuse to pass on my torch to you, I have enclosed everything that you need to prepare and light your own. Shadows keep you, Little Shadow... Even in death, shadows can prevail.
- Olaris
Lin's brows knit as she read the letter, then finally, she tore away the note from the top of the parchments and began to flip through the first few pages. Everything was there... Signed, dated and approved. Her and Satrethan's names were scrawled perfectly on the pages, and there, in that elegant curl of letters, were two words...
“Nocturnum Nevermore...”
The smile curled the corners of Lin's lips as the looked at the finished charter and all of the papers needed to start their next chapter. Their time with the Scions was officially at an end... Her and Satrethan's only worry now was building up their own organization and watching it flourish...
Lin's ears twitched as she heard a noise, voices, coming from the main communicator on the ground. Her smile faded as she watched it for a moment. Slowly, she reached down and ran her armored fingers over the communicator before suddenly she grabbed a dagger from her belt and slammed the blade down through the communicator and into the ground. She watched it spark and fizzle before ultimately dying. The other communicator soon met the same fate before slowly, Lin pushed herself up off of the ground and kicked the broken, mangled communicators into the bushes around her.
Raising her right hand, Lin pressed her fingers to her ear, speaking softly as she turned from the tree and walked the short way to the Keep in Northrend. “Look to the horizon, my love... Change is here. I have the papers. I'm on my way back now.”