Post by Shari'Adune Forestsong on Nov 24, 2010 18:14:31 GMT -5
When she closed her eyes, she tried to remember things as they were.
Peaceful, with the gentle lulling of the waves against the pillars of the dock, the salty sea air intermingled with the freshness of the pine trees and sandy beaches which ran from shore to shore. Even the dampness that seemed to perpetually hang in the air was a fond recollection for her of that place. Of her home.
But the memory was always soon blanketed by the dark cloud of reality. Buildings tossed, scattered and broken like children's toys, a once proud dock twisted and broken like a twig. Bodies of once proud protectors discarded like puppets with their strings cut, limbs at unnatural angles, eyes fixed, staring blankly into the horrors that were their last memories of life. The gentle sound of nature was hushed by the perpetual moaning of the splintered pier, roaring currents which now flooded in through torn, jagged scars that heaved up the once tranquil lands, and the monstrous cyclone which fed off the land. The winds and lightening of it lashing at what was left of the surrounding area like a master's whip.
What was, was no more.
Tearful eyes popped open and Shari choked out another sob, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes as if she could simply push the memory of what she saw and heard away. It played over and over in her minds eye bringing fresh waves of grief to claw at her heart and throat constricting her air.
She knew that had not been her life for some time now, but the destruction had savagely ripped open her old wounds and reawakened her infinite ache for who she used to be and how things were back then. Faces of those she had cared so much about danced over the waves. The Kaldorei priest with his long midnight blue hair and shy smile; the large and powerful draenei paladin with his firm hand and limitless confidence. The sweet young one she saw as her second daughter with snow white hair and a fondness for using bow and arrows and all the rest. She wondered if they were all OK.
Her heart churned over and then she thought of Machk, the bull whom she had given her pledge to not long after coming to the Horde. Despite everything, she prayed he was alright, for even he did not deserve the fate those in Darkshore suffered.
But she felt she did.
I should have been there. , was her constant thought. She would have died a painful death surely, but she would have been with her people. Asphyxiated and crushed, ironically by the very same waters she had spent so much of her youth in feeling safe. It would have been a fitting end.
Then her thoughts slowly swayed toward those people who wore the same cracked blood red skull she did for her family crest. They were safe. Some even seemed to share her pain. Whether that was true or not, she didn't know. She had spent the last couple weeks learning the ugly facts that sometimes those you trusted with your life could still lie to you and betray you. In the end though, the grinning skull still marked those who chose to stand through it all, for good or bad, by her side.
The land had been sundered. Old forcibly removed and replaced with new. For better or worse, the changes were there to stay. One just had to make the best of them. Forget the pains of the past, embrace the present and look forward to what the future may bring.
Peaceful, with the gentle lulling of the waves against the pillars of the dock, the salty sea air intermingled with the freshness of the pine trees and sandy beaches which ran from shore to shore. Even the dampness that seemed to perpetually hang in the air was a fond recollection for her of that place. Of her home.
But the memory was always soon blanketed by the dark cloud of reality. Buildings tossed, scattered and broken like children's toys, a once proud dock twisted and broken like a twig. Bodies of once proud protectors discarded like puppets with their strings cut, limbs at unnatural angles, eyes fixed, staring blankly into the horrors that were their last memories of life. The gentle sound of nature was hushed by the perpetual moaning of the splintered pier, roaring currents which now flooded in through torn, jagged scars that heaved up the once tranquil lands, and the monstrous cyclone which fed off the land. The winds and lightening of it lashing at what was left of the surrounding area like a master's whip.
What was, was no more.
Tearful eyes popped open and Shari choked out another sob, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes as if she could simply push the memory of what she saw and heard away. It played over and over in her minds eye bringing fresh waves of grief to claw at her heart and throat constricting her air.
She knew that had not been her life for some time now, but the destruction had savagely ripped open her old wounds and reawakened her infinite ache for who she used to be and how things were back then. Faces of those she had cared so much about danced over the waves. The Kaldorei priest with his long midnight blue hair and shy smile; the large and powerful draenei paladin with his firm hand and limitless confidence. The sweet young one she saw as her second daughter with snow white hair and a fondness for using bow and arrows and all the rest. She wondered if they were all OK.
Her heart churned over and then she thought of Machk, the bull whom she had given her pledge to not long after coming to the Horde. Despite everything, she prayed he was alright, for even he did not deserve the fate those in Darkshore suffered.
But she felt she did.
I should have been there. , was her constant thought. She would have died a painful death surely, but she would have been with her people. Asphyxiated and crushed, ironically by the very same waters she had spent so much of her youth in feeling safe. It would have been a fitting end.
Then her thoughts slowly swayed toward those people who wore the same cracked blood red skull she did for her family crest. They were safe. Some even seemed to share her pain. Whether that was true or not, she didn't know. She had spent the last couple weeks learning the ugly facts that sometimes those you trusted with your life could still lie to you and betray you. In the end though, the grinning skull still marked those who chose to stand through it all, for good or bad, by her side.
The land had been sundered. Old forcibly removed and replaced with new. For better or worse, the changes were there to stay. One just had to make the best of them. Forget the pains of the past, embrace the present and look forward to what the future may bring.
Founded April 26, 2005