'Of blood and fire' (Eothan)

‘Of blood and fire’

It was a dull morning in Stormwind city, the rain poured from the grey skies as though trying to wash away the stains of the night before. Luckily it had started the moment Eothan had entered his house, he had smirked at the thought of that being his first piece of good luck in quite some time.

The morning had started differently for him, especially when compared to those of recent months. He had spent the previous evening and night at his new home in Elwynn. For once, he had not been alone, having spent an enjoyable time with Aestra. It had been an interesting night full of joking, laughing and teaching, with Eothan finally taking the first steps in training Aestra in the shadow.

He had spent a short while inside her mind, assessing her ability for wielding the shadow arts and had amazed himself with the fact he didn’t pry. Even with all of his changes he still surprised himself with how different he was now, she was a noble and one he could have drawn information from if need be, but he hadn’t even considered it.

He walked towards the table in his living room and set down a glass. As he removed the stopper from a bottle of brandy his thoughts moved to Aestra once again. She was certainly something different, another interesting woman in a sea of mediocrity that he had found himself swimming in for the past few years. It was with that thought that he came to the realisation that he hadn’t even made a move on her. They had even slept in the same bed last night and he hadn’t done a thing.

He shook his head and filled the glass with brandy, setting the bottle down afterwards with a quiet sigh. Even with his bitterness towards Valerias at present, even with his lingering anger at her outburst and disregard for his thoughts and feelings, he still wasn’t able to do anything with another woman. He picked up the glass, his grip around it far tighter than required, and took a gulp of the brandy.

He turned and walked across the room to settle down on a chair, holding the glass of brandy on his knee. He didn’t have any time to think of Vale, and for the first time in a long time he didn’t have any desire to do so. He lifted the glass to his lips to sip from it as he peered around the room. It was almost entirely empty; save for the furniture, the bottle of brandy and the glass in his hand, there was nothing of his life here anymore. He had spread his belongings over several homes and therefore spreading himself across the world. It had been a difficult decision, to choose to live outside the city for the first time in his life, but it had been a welcome one by the end.

He sipped from the brandy again and closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander to the reasons for moving. He had established himself in the city as an information specialist, an informant and an infiltrator. He was no petty thief; he only ever chose the jobs that would challenge his intelligence and skill. While he may have stolen the fortunes of his victims, he had never done so in a violent fashion. He had twisted their minds and weaved his words into their thoughts, eventually leaving them almost willing to hand over everything they had.

With his feelings for Valerias appearing, all of that which he had built had burned to the ground. He stopped caring for work; he stopped enjoying the mental challenge and turned to physically challenging himself. As he opened his eyes and leant back in his chair he wondered how long it had been since he did anything that earned him even a single gold coin. It was long enough that he couldn’t remember the details of the job, a sure sign that his life in Stormwind city had more or less come to an end.

He sipped from his glass and turned his head sharply at the sound of a knock on his door.

‘Eothan?’

Eothan stood up and walked over to the door, as he wrapped his hand around the handle and twisted it, he already knew who was stood outside. It was a voice he hadn’t heard for over ten years, the voice of a man that he despised. He opened the door and lifted the glass to his lips to sip from it again as he stared into the eyes of his father.

Relius Dawn was a man in his mid sixties, a thin and aging man with well kept, shoulder length hair. Eothan smirked slightly as he looked his father up and down. Relius remained silent, simply taking in the sight of his son after so many years, he hadn’t wanted to resort to visiting him, but the time had come to put their issues to rest.

‘I assume you’re wondering why I’m here’ said Relius as he lifted his hand; he cleared his throat before intending to continue.

‘You’re really going grey, I’m surprised you haven’t died of vanity’ said Eothan as he took another sip from the glass in his hand. It had been a very long time since he had the chance to mock his father face to face; he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

‘I see you’re still as rude as ever. Could you at least invite me inside before you ridicule my appearance further?’ said Relius with a sigh and a shake of his head.

‘I doubt you’re going to walk away if I slam the door in your face, so I suppose you can come inside. Though I really don’t see what difference it makes whether I ridicule you inside or outside, personally’ said Eothan as he stepped to the side and drained his glass of it’s brandy. Relius stepped inside and walked a little further into the house, turning on the spot at the sound of the door slamming.

‘I’d offer you a drink, but I doubt I’d even let you drink my urine, let alone my alcohol’ said Eothan as he walked over to the table to refill his glass carefully. ‘You’re drinking at this time in the morning?’ said Relius as he walked closer to the table.

‘Part of enjoying the riches of life, father. I assume you’re still spending your days doing very little and your nights depriving mother of pleasure, yes?’ replied Eothan as he turned to look at his father. Relius frowned as Eothan smirked and sipped from the glass he held, quite obviously pleased with himself.

‘I don’t believe that is any of your business anymore, I cast you out long ago for such remarks’ said Relius as he folded his arms and continued to frown at Eothan. He had never quite forgiven himself for not giving Eothan more of his attention during his youth; he was of the belief that his son could have grown up to be a respectable man, not an eternal delinquent.

‘And yet here you are, stood in my house and looking as pathetically conceited as you always did. Why have you come here father? What made you think that I would ever want to see you, let alone converse with you?’ said Eothan before sipping from his glass again.

These two men had always been different, Relius knew from an early age that Eothan was a fast learner and sought to thrust his son into the life of a Magi. Eothan had learned of his intelligence at an early age and done all that was possible to stand against the wishes of his father. In a sense, Eothan was all that a rebel could possibly be, but this was far beyond the stereotypical teenage rebellion, Eothan had never stopped.

‘I’m dying, Eothan. Slowly and surely my health is degrading. I’ve hidden it from your mother and sister and have come before you to ask that you take control of the Dawn house. I’ve already passed on all the leadership to you in the official documents, I just need you to accept the role’ said Relius as he unfolded his arms and stepped forward, putting a hand on Eothan’s shoulder.

He widened his eyes as Eothan burst into a fit of laughter, lifting a hand to wipe his eyes before speaking. ‘You cast me out, remove my status as an official member of your household and drag my name through the dirt. You hide away as I spend years building a different life for myself and as it falls, you re-appear’.

Eothan spoke quietly and searched his father’s face for a moment, looking for any sign of a lie or a trick. His father, for all his shortcomings, was as able as Eothan was for spinning lies. It was the only part of his father’s personality that he had taken with him, the ability to appeal to a person with the right words, the power to make people do, as you want them to.

Relius grimaced heavily and shuddered as Eothan rammed a fist into his stomach. He tightened his grip on Eothan’s shoulder and hunched forward. Eothan continued to push his fist against his father’s stomach as the shadow began to crackle around it.

‘You see, you’ve come at a bad time Relius. I am still the boy you threw out of that house, but other parts of me have changed massively. You see, the life I built for myself here has crumbled, so I have to make some fresh changes to my existence. Your son is a man of the shadow, old man, and you’re stood in a house that is going to burn this very morning’ he muttered quietly, bringing his mouth close to Relius’ ear.

‘I’ll take your precious house, but you’ll not be around to see what I do with it’ said Eothan as he flattened his palm against Relius’ stomach and conjured a bolt of shadow, letting it rip through him.

Relius growled loudly and stumbled backwards, his hands covering the large wound made by Eothan. Eothan watched with a smirk as his father toppled over and landed on his back. He lifted his glass to his lips to drain it of its brandy, closing his eyes at the sound of his father’s sharp and painful breathing. He set the glass down on the table beside him before opening his eyes and muttering a few words under his breath. He lifted his hands and drew several runes in the air with his index fingers.

Relius lifted his head and watched Eothan, some blood running from his mouth and dripping on the floor. Relius began looking around the room at the sound of more crackling and widened his eyes as orbs of shadow began appearing all over the room.

Eothan dropped his hands and walked over to kneel beside his father. ‘Now then, father, be sure to scream as loud as you can. I always hoped that this day would come, but I never expected it to be so satisfying’ said Eothan with a grin as he patted Relius’ cheek and stood up again.

‘Don’t leave me here, Eothan! I… please, think of your sister!’ yelled Relius as best he could as Eothan put a hand on his front door. Eothan looked over his shoulder with a heavy frown and spoke with venom in his words.

‘The fact that you would use my connection to her to save your life is pitiful. You call yourself a man? You deserve to burn in the flames of my departure, you old piece of shit’

Eothan opened the door and stepped outside his house, closing the door quickly behind him. As he walked away from the house and down the alley, he muttered more words under his breath. He lifted both his hands and clicked his fingers as shadow flame flickered across them. He closed his eyes at the sound of his home being consumed by massive amounts of shadow flame.

He stopped in his tracks and turned round, opening his eyes again to take in the sight. The flames were tall and had already consumed the house. It would burn until there was nothing left, it would melt away the life Eothan had left behind and it would take some of his hatred with it. He spat on the floor and turned to walk away from the scene, his final farewell to a second life lost.

It would not be easy to be born into a third, but he had no intention of dying.