Story - Pain And Forgiveness
The time was early morning. The dim light of the morning sun illuminating the pathway down into the chamber inside of a tree. Inside the circular, warmly lit room as shelves of books and home supplies. Part of the room’s floor space is occupied by wooden blinds and beds with people resting inside. The room itself would be warm and have a cozy look to it. A tree growing out in the middle of the room to match the very wooden style and natural look of the room. But it is to be expected of a dwelling used by druids in Val’sharah.
The quite peaceful atmosphere of the room would suddenly change as the sounds of sharp movement and heavy breathing breaks the silence. In one of the stalls sits a blonde elf with short cut hair. Her general look would make people thing she was just pulled out of a grave. Her skin burned or red and covered in blisters. Spots or patches of blood covering her body, some of it green. A nasty looking mark on her abdomen that looks like her skin was just pulled together and stuck in a clump. If it wasn’t for the pile of partially recognizable destroyed armor next to the bed or the purple crystal ring on her finger, some might not even recognize it to be Irelia.
She sits up breathing frantically. Her eyes darting around the space she is in in panic looking for any source of danger. The last thing she remembers before waking was flying through the air on the end of a pit lord’s spear, hitting and then rolling along the ground as her vision blurred with dizziness and pain. She remembers opening her eyes for the last time to see a trail of her own blood that she left when skidding along the floor. Everything went black then. Her head darts around for a few more seconds before the rest of her head catches up and realizes where she is. Once the adrenaline of waking up expecting to be inside of a legion ship settles, the wash of pain from her body is felt as it nearly causes her to pass out again. She falls backwards onto her back and brings her hand to her stomach as that is where it hurts most. She lies there for a moment taking deep breaths as she focuses on not throwing up. All her skin stings like it is on fire. She looks down to her body to see the mangled excuse of a sealed wound on her abdomen. Obviously somebody tried to treat it whilst it was tainted. She also noticed some blue lines over parts of her body.
She takes a moment for the wash of pain to subside before she looks at the rest of herself. She sighs at the mess of what she is and closes her eyes and exhales at how she looks.
“Better than being dead I suppose. Even if I do look half way to being forsaken.” She thinks to herself.
Noticing that the bed sheets are the only thing keeping her modesty, or whatever modesty a burn victim can have, she glances around the sides of the bed. She exhales again when she sees the ruin that is her armour. What wasn’t absolutely totaled was damaged and bent. Covered in scratches and burns that would be pointless for her to even try and remove. Her chest plate is useless given the large hole in the front of it. Her cape and tabard are nowhere to be seen. No doubt a pile of ash on the floor of some legion ship.
Irelia lies back again on her bed. She rubs her eyes whilst idly running a finger over the deformed markings of the healing on her stomach. Only then does it occur to her that she is surrounded by a barrier of some sort. She slowly sits up not wanting to make the same mistake twice and lifts her hand to it curious to how it would react. Much to her disappointment and to some relief, her hand just simply passes through it. She sits and leans up against the wall lifting the sheets to cover herself as she grits her teeth at the stinging. She lifts the covers and looks down at herself again, specifically at the deformity on her stomach. She lift one hand to it and closes her eyes. A feint glow of light slipping through her eye lids and under her sheet as she tries to call the light to her to remedy this amateur attempt to heal her wound. She would be grateful regardless for her life being saved, but she has the power to try remove this mark so she will try. Irelia first focuses on removing the fel taint from the wounds. She finds this to be easier than it should have been so immediately moves on to healing the damaged flesh and getting it to seal properly. No doubt once she is finished there will be a scar. Thought she had a scar in that region already so it will not look out of place. However she can be happy now for the scar she bears on her abdomen is one she can talk of with pride instead of regret.
After what felt like an eternity she opened her eyes and breathed heavily at the exhausting efforts of tending to herself in her current state. She lets out a sigh but glances to see her efforts proved to be somewhat effective. Over time her stomach should look more normal and less like an odd looking anus. Don’t ask how she knows what one looks like, she won’t tell. It was one of strangest looking wounds she ever had to deal with and she would be thankful if she never had to think about it again. She painfully shifts herself back down and lies to rest. What she really wants is to bury her face in the soft pillow and just have a comfortable nights rest but that would probably just hurt. She closes her eyes to try sleep, and after about fifteen minutes she opens them again. She sighs once more at how the blistering pain is keeping her awake and looks around for something to pass the time.
Irelia leans over the side of the bed and moves an arm around her things looking for her pack. She eventually finds it and takes out her diary, thankful it survived the pillar of fel flames. She takes than and something to write with before she opens the book to find a new page. The moment she opens the book, a letter falls out onto the sheets in front of her. She gives it a puzzled look for a moment trying to remember what it was. She tiredly blinks and gives up remembering what it is before she picks it up to look at.
(http://ask-windblaze.tumblr.com/post/151590810101/dear-irelia-9th-october-2016)
Her eyes sadden as they move down the letter. A small smile shows briefly at parts of the letter on an otherwise sad face. After reading she folds the letter carefully and tucks it into her diary at the page she is about to write on:
(OC: Date [09-10-2016] Day[Sunday])
I feel terrible. My skin burns, I just had to fix a horrible mutilation on my body and I am constantly fighting not to be sick. Saying today has not been my best would be putting it lightly.
It all started off in the morning when Ara’ni startled me awake by yelling something down my ear about somebody leaving me behind. I rubbed my eyes and blinked when I saw Taryanes parents stood at the entry way to the resting area I occupied. They came to speak to Ara’ni about an old threat that had returned to threaten their family and a druid called Thane who asked us here to begin with. I got into the rest of my gear whilst they spoke. Vellidan, Taryanes father, spoke of going after the person who threatened them. But he needed to get stronger. He spoke of going after a Pit Lord whilst I finished waking up. Whilst he spoke I noticed something odd about my hair. Some of it is missing. My pony tail to be precise. This would have troubled me more if what currently was being said wasn’t. So I ignored it for now and listened. Their objective sounded highly dangerous. And after words said, it was clear that they accepted they might not return. Taryanes mother Narindiel spoke to me via divination thanking me for being Taryane’s friend and Sylvary’s companion and to look after them.
To assist them both was an open offer. One I had no intention of declining. If this person was going to go after Taryane, Sylvarys would protect her. Listening to Vellidan speak of this person I fear that they both would be at risk if this person came for her. So any aid I can offer to destroy this threat before it reaches them I am willing to give. If that means facing a Pit Lord then so be it.
We departed though a portal through the nether. Never a pleasant experience and this time it was a little too much for my stomach to handle and I threw up. A minor setback as we fought our way through the legions forces to reach a portal to a ship with the Pit Lord on. I took some nasty wounds on the way there but nothing to hold me back. We went through the portal and there it was…
Massive in scale and power. The fight was a real struggle to stay alive, let alone kill it. I managed to get its focus on me and avoid its attacks for the most part. I kept it from harming the others the best I could but there was only so much I could do to keep something that size focused on only harming me. Well trying to. My years of training in heavy armour paid off as I was able to maneuver my way around its attacks and not get as held back as a novice plat user. But I could only dodge so much. With this thing holding a personal vendetta against me its extra attention eventually lead to it striking me. The pain was intense as I felt my skin burn and the foul stench of fel cover me. That was the blow that allowed it to stab me. All I remember is the sharp pain and the taste of blood. The feeling of rushing through the air and hitting the cold hard floor. Everything went back. I thought that was it.
I woke up in this bed I sit now. Having to deal with the pain and aftermath. I woke inside a magical barrier that doesn’t seem to do anything from what I can tell. The fel I was expecting to have is gone, so somebody must have treated me. I appear to have Mana burn too. All my armour is damaged or ruined and anything that wasn’t metal seems to be gone completely. I feel and look how I imagine a forsaken would look and feel. I did what I could to mend a mutilation on my chest and found a letter from Taryane.
She wanted to thank me for the help I gave her parents and apologize for all the things she has done in the past. She was sorry for the times she lost her temper. The times she feels she was distant and unsupportive. She felt she wasn’t the friend she should have been. She also lost her temper and spoke against Sylvarys which pushed him away. He also took her illness from her and permanently made it his own. This is something I will need to forgive in time. Her fault lead to Sylvarys taking harm to himself. But she knows this. As for the other things, I felt some are to blame for us both. Yes she became unsupportive at times, but then at times my actions pushed her away. Yes she lost her temper, but at times it was because of my own faults. Yes there were times I just wanted to talk, but she became so closed off. But then I look at how I spent my life before her and others took the time to aid me. I think back to the challenge these past few months have been getting back on track. I think of all the progress I made and how it wouldn’t have been possible without efforts such as hers. I would still be lost setting a poor standard for our people. But she helped change that. And I will never forget this. I have put my flaws behind me and gotten better from them. Our mistakes of the past are what define who we are now. And even though she was not perfect along this path we walked, neither was I. She stood by me in my troubles. She came back after I hurt her for things I did or how I acted. I stand happy now with a ring on my finger and a future to look forward to if we survive this blasted war. So I will do what she has done for me many times and forgive. We can both learn from our mistakes. And we can both become better from them. And I will be happy to help her do that like she did for me.
Irelia finished writing with a look that she was sure on what she said. She closed the book with the letter inside and placed it back into her pack. She took a moment to think on what she said and what she read in the letter. She let a small and brief smile make it to her face even though she was in pain. She placed her head back down again and closed her eyes. Slowly she called the light around herself to sooth the pain. She tried as best she could to remedy the burns, but she was tired. Once the pain was nullified, she slipped into a deep sleep once more.
