07-26-2020, 06:05 PM
...it didn’t work.
I knew it wouldn’t though.
Didn’t I?
Vel crossed her arms as she surveyed the winter-touched clearing of her dreamscape, scanning for any sign of movement that would indicate her target had also managed to find his way here. Aside from the blue flickers of the mana wyrms twisting around the bare trees, the woods were motionless.
And silent.
Aside from the rumble of thunder in the distance that heralded the flash of lime green lightning that shot across the arcane sky.
Vel shot a reproachful look at it, her lips narrowing into a thin line as she started to walk across the clearing in search of the face she knew she wouldn’t find.
“Victor!” she called, her voice fading into the winter stillness, but no other response came.
“Tch,” she scoffed in annoyance, her eyes once more scanning the misty forest that she had created. Her fingernails dug into her arm, and she turned her gaze to the pathway that led in the direction of the storm rumbling overhead.
When she had tried to reach the Alteraci prince from Kalimdor, she hadn’t gotten very far. The deeper into the storm she had gone, the more relentless the interference, and the harsher the requirements to evade it.
But she was now thousands of miles north. On another continent.
There was perhaps a chance the storm was weaker here.
Or at least more sparse.
The elf shook her head, her tongue pressing against the tip of one of her canines, and sighed.
If you have any way of knowing I’m trying to reach you, I need you to help me.
She grit her teeth, unfolding her arms as she leaned low in preparation to sprint, and then started to run. Snow splashed beneath her boots despite the fact her feet didn’t sink into the powdery drifts, her brow furrowed and eyes focused on the path ahead. Another peel of thunder roared, and a flash of lightning struck somewhere in the misty woods.
Instinctively, Vel’s eyes flickered to where it struck before refocusing on the path ahead.
Just keep striking there.
She put on another burst of speed, her arms swinging in tandem with her legs as her coat flapped noisily behind her. Her hair was already a wreck, tousled and windswept as she raced beneath the branching, naked tree tops that lined either side of the wooded path. Thunder growled overhead, the thick black clouds of the storm starting to obscure the expansive, arcane sky as the reaches of the dream mingled more fiercely with whatever was interfering with the telepathic bond.
Electricity singed the air as a burst of lightning crashed into the ground to her right, sending up a shower of powdery snow as it left a crater that crackled with fel green energy. Vel cursed beneath her breath, this strike much closer than the prior one.
“Nothing is ever simple is it?” she snarled, her teeth bared. She glanced to the sky again and watched the lightning arc between darkened clouds as she attempted to predict where the next strike would emerge from.
But it was just as chaotic as the fel energy it seemed to emulate.
“Dammit.”
Two more strikes collided with the ground, and Vel dodged sharply to the side, another snarl on her breath as she clawed at the snow to keep her balance and keep running.
“Victor! Can you hear me?” the elf shouted to the sky again, trying to raise it above the ambient sound of rumbling thunder.
She wasn’t a yeller. She never had been. Her voice could get icy or firm, or rise slightly in volume, but it was never what one would consider to be a yell. But in the dream it was fueled by desperation.
For as isolated from the situation as they were across the sea, Victor was even more so. For as much information as Uther’s cousin was gathering, he was likely forced to dance to whatever tune his father played--especially in the wake of Daval Prestor’s ascension into high king of the Alliance.
While Victor knew they had escaped the cave in, they had been dark for months.
There was no evidence to imply they hadn’t simply died in whatever refuge they had found.
“We can’t connect. There’s an interference,” she continued to shout, flinching away from the light of another series of lightning strikes. The storm was starting to increase in ferocity, the thunder now a never-ending din in the dark clouds that were engulfing her sanctuary. “We’re trying to reach you, I promise.”
Despite the ephemeral nature of the spell, Vel could feel her lungs heave with the effort of keeping up the pace. Her coat had partially slipped from her shoulders, but she didn’t dare slow her efforts to fix it as it flapped messily around her body. Three flashes exploded around her, one of them crashing into a tree and causing it to erupt into crackling green flames. She barely had a chance to respond before another three rained down, one of them close enough she could swear she smelled singed hair.
Her icy eyes widened in panic.
“We’re alive!” Vel screeched at the sky. “If you can hear me, know we’re alive!”
Dawn heard Remnii. If he can just hear me. Hear something.
The sound of thunder was getting overwhelming. What was a dull rumble had become a roar that pressed painfully on her ears and threatened to drown out her very thoughts. She didn’t know if she had gotten further than she had last time. The lightning was striking all around her, crackling furiously and sending snow sailing into her vision as she desperately danced around its strikes.
But she was screaming. Loud enough her throat was raw and her breath came in ragged gasps. There were no more explanations. Just repetition of the mantra that she hoped would get through.
We’re alive! We will come back. We’re alive!
“WE’RE ALIV-”
Her final shout severed into a pained screech as a bolt of lightning smacked her straight in the chest and dropped her, convulsing and screaming to the ground, her vision filled with nothing but green and her ears nothing but the roar of thunder.
Vel hurled herself off the couch as she awoke with a start, her vision still blinded by the green light as she scrambled to get her bearings. She could hear a startled hiss from Arkha’din, the familiar having been jostled in her lurch, and her hands found purchase in the cool stone of the floor.
Slowly, her vision cleared, leaving her panting and disheveled. She took a steadying gasp, forcing her body to still as she allowed her other senses to kick in.
She was in the study. In Northrend. On the floor next to the couch she had fallen asleep on.
The storm was a dull rumble in her ears, fading away like the remnants of the spell, though she struggled to catch her breath as if she had actually been running. She raised a hand to her face and felt something wet. Tears, perhaps, that were slowly freezing to her flesh, but as she pulled her hand away to look, she noted the viscous form of blood in the dark.
She dabbed again beneath her nose, confirming that it had started to bleed as she shakily pushed herself into a sitting position and summoned a rag to her side with a flick of her wrist.
“Shit,” she cursed, holding the rag to her nose and leaning her head back. Arkha’din clicked, also now coherent as he draped his head on her shoulder.
A humorless, exhausted chuff passed Vel’s lips.
“Probably stupid,” she said quietly.
But… maybe… he heard…
I knew it wouldn’t though.
Didn’t I?
Vel crossed her arms as she surveyed the winter-touched clearing of her dreamscape, scanning for any sign of movement that would indicate her target had also managed to find his way here. Aside from the blue flickers of the mana wyrms twisting around the bare trees, the woods were motionless.
And silent.
Aside from the rumble of thunder in the distance that heralded the flash of lime green lightning that shot across the arcane sky.
Vel shot a reproachful look at it, her lips narrowing into a thin line as she started to walk across the clearing in search of the face she knew she wouldn’t find.
“Victor!” she called, her voice fading into the winter stillness, but no other response came.
“Tch,” she scoffed in annoyance, her eyes once more scanning the misty forest that she had created. Her fingernails dug into her arm, and she turned her gaze to the pathway that led in the direction of the storm rumbling overhead.
When she had tried to reach the Alteraci prince from Kalimdor, she hadn’t gotten very far. The deeper into the storm she had gone, the more relentless the interference, and the harsher the requirements to evade it.
But she was now thousands of miles north. On another continent.
There was perhaps a chance the storm was weaker here.
Or at least more sparse.
The elf shook her head, her tongue pressing against the tip of one of her canines, and sighed.
If you have any way of knowing I’m trying to reach you, I need you to help me.
She grit her teeth, unfolding her arms as she leaned low in preparation to sprint, and then started to run. Snow splashed beneath her boots despite the fact her feet didn’t sink into the powdery drifts, her brow furrowed and eyes focused on the path ahead. Another peel of thunder roared, and a flash of lightning struck somewhere in the misty woods.
Instinctively, Vel’s eyes flickered to where it struck before refocusing on the path ahead.
Just keep striking there.
She put on another burst of speed, her arms swinging in tandem with her legs as her coat flapped noisily behind her. Her hair was already a wreck, tousled and windswept as she raced beneath the branching, naked tree tops that lined either side of the wooded path. Thunder growled overhead, the thick black clouds of the storm starting to obscure the expansive, arcane sky as the reaches of the dream mingled more fiercely with whatever was interfering with the telepathic bond.
Electricity singed the air as a burst of lightning crashed into the ground to her right, sending up a shower of powdery snow as it left a crater that crackled with fel green energy. Vel cursed beneath her breath, this strike much closer than the prior one.
“Nothing is ever simple is it?” she snarled, her teeth bared. She glanced to the sky again and watched the lightning arc between darkened clouds as she attempted to predict where the next strike would emerge from.
But it was just as chaotic as the fel energy it seemed to emulate.
“Dammit.”
Two more strikes collided with the ground, and Vel dodged sharply to the side, another snarl on her breath as she clawed at the snow to keep her balance and keep running.
“Victor! Can you hear me?” the elf shouted to the sky again, trying to raise it above the ambient sound of rumbling thunder.
She wasn’t a yeller. She never had been. Her voice could get icy or firm, or rise slightly in volume, but it was never what one would consider to be a yell. But in the dream it was fueled by desperation.
For as isolated from the situation as they were across the sea, Victor was even more so. For as much information as Uther’s cousin was gathering, he was likely forced to dance to whatever tune his father played--especially in the wake of Daval Prestor’s ascension into high king of the Alliance.
While Victor knew they had escaped the cave in, they had been dark for months.
There was no evidence to imply they hadn’t simply died in whatever refuge they had found.
“We can’t connect. There’s an interference,” she continued to shout, flinching away from the light of another series of lightning strikes. The storm was starting to increase in ferocity, the thunder now a never-ending din in the dark clouds that were engulfing her sanctuary. “We’re trying to reach you, I promise.”
Despite the ephemeral nature of the spell, Vel could feel her lungs heave with the effort of keeping up the pace. Her coat had partially slipped from her shoulders, but she didn’t dare slow her efforts to fix it as it flapped messily around her body. Three flashes exploded around her, one of them crashing into a tree and causing it to erupt into crackling green flames. She barely had a chance to respond before another three rained down, one of them close enough she could swear she smelled singed hair.
Her icy eyes widened in panic.
“We’re alive!” Vel screeched at the sky. “If you can hear me, know we’re alive!”
Dawn heard Remnii. If he can just hear me. Hear something.
The sound of thunder was getting overwhelming. What was a dull rumble had become a roar that pressed painfully on her ears and threatened to drown out her very thoughts. She didn’t know if she had gotten further than she had last time. The lightning was striking all around her, crackling furiously and sending snow sailing into her vision as she desperately danced around its strikes.
But she was screaming. Loud enough her throat was raw and her breath came in ragged gasps. There were no more explanations. Just repetition of the mantra that she hoped would get through.
We’re alive! We will come back. We’re alive!
“WE’RE ALIV-”
Her final shout severed into a pained screech as a bolt of lightning smacked her straight in the chest and dropped her, convulsing and screaming to the ground, her vision filled with nothing but green and her ears nothing but the roar of thunder.
Vel hurled herself off the couch as she awoke with a start, her vision still blinded by the green light as she scrambled to get her bearings. She could hear a startled hiss from Arkha’din, the familiar having been jostled in her lurch, and her hands found purchase in the cool stone of the floor.
Slowly, her vision cleared, leaving her panting and disheveled. She took a steadying gasp, forcing her body to still as she allowed her other senses to kick in.
She was in the study. In Northrend. On the floor next to the couch she had fallen asleep on.
The storm was a dull rumble in her ears, fading away like the remnants of the spell, though she struggled to catch her breath as if she had actually been running. She raised a hand to her face and felt something wet. Tears, perhaps, that were slowly freezing to her flesh, but as she pulled her hand away to look, she noted the viscous form of blood in the dark.
She dabbed again beneath her nose, confirming that it had started to bleed as she shakily pushed herself into a sitting position and summoned a rag to her side with a flick of her wrist.
“Shit,” she cursed, holding the rag to her nose and leaning her head back. Arkha’din clicked, also now coherent as he draped his head on her shoulder.
A humorless, exhausted chuff passed Vel’s lips.
“Probably stupid,” she said quietly.
But… maybe… he heard…