Black Tears

Rain.

Heavy drops of dark water falling from the sky.

Tears.

Weather they were his own or tears of the sky that had been forced to witness the play below, he did not know.

Staring down at the black lake from the huge cliff above, his face as solid as the rock he stood on, he waited. The trees of Elwynn forest were black now too. Colours were gone. It did not matter. They never had meant much for old Shagrath…

And now he had returned.

The Smoking blade deserved its name. For the last couple of hours before the closing time, a thick smoke filled the large tavern. Shagrath sat upstairs, donating his share to the surroundings a rugged pipe as his accomplice. It was raining outside, and Shagrath was glad that he could sit in shelter and enjoy his pipe and some good mead. Perhaps he was getting old, he thought with a slight grin and took another sip. He had never much cared for comfortable life. He shrugged slightly to himself and allowed the moment of weakness. He closed his eyes and let his mind relax.

An anxious voice called for him through the Sphere.

“Master…?”

Shagrath gritted his teeth and leaned forward to take a long sip from his drink. It was Adelaine, one of his acolytes. And judging from her tone his good mood was about to come to an end.

Trouble.

“…what is it?” he replied after he was sure his frustration didn’t ring in his voice.
“…Where are you? ...It’s Neferi… she…” her voice died out for a moment.
Shagrath’s muscles tensed and he opened his eyes slowly.
“Come to the blade”, he commanded.

Adelaine arrived, soaking wet and obviously upset and worried about something. She managed to calm herself down and explained how something was wrong with Neferi.
“It has gone on for some time already… yesterday she...” Adelaine took a deep breath and continued,”she just loses control… and now she attacked me and Minuial when we tried to help her…”

Shagrath’s heart twitched. He almost gasped in surprise to his own reaction. Then he realised in his mind what his body had already reacted to. He realised what he had to do. He slowly rose from his seat interrupting Adelaine, and shook the burning ashes from his pipe into the half-empty mug and slipped his pipe into his pocket. Adelaine jumped back in her chair slightly and looked at Shagrath, not being able to hide her worry.
“Can I come with you…?” she asked with her voice trembling very slightly towards the end of her sentence.
Shagrath did not answer; he merely stared down the stairs for a moment before walking down.

Fenuviel stormed from the door, he too soaking wet and obviously exhausted from running. He fought to calm his breath as his master walked towards him. He opened his mouth to start as he drew near, but Shagrath interrupted him.

“Outside”, he said and stepped past Fenuviel.

Shagrath stopped and turned around in the tunnel leading out of dwarven district. He stared at Fenuviel in such a way that he knew to be brief. Fenuviel took a deep breath, assessing his words.
“Never have I, not even during my worst struggles, Master”, he took a deep breath again and continued,”Never have I attacked one of our order…”
“I will deal with her…” Shagrath interrupted and narrowed his eyes slightly, “Anything else?”
“No Master…” Fenuviel bowed his head as it was proper and Shagrath saluted him before turning away and starting to make his way towards Elwynn forest.

A lightning cut the sky in half above the gates of Stormwind, enlightening the forest below the treetops for a moment. Shagrath caught a glimpse of a female figure disappearing into the woods as he stepped through the gates. A figure he knew so well. It belonged to the only person he had let himself care for. One he had allowed himself to… fall in love with. Now she had become a threat. It didn’t matter if she was in control of herself. It didn’t matter even if she was under a charm of some kind. He had sworn not to let her become his weakness… it was the deal he had to make. He had taken the risk. Now it was time to face the consequences. He should have felt anger. He should have felt disappointment. At least frustration. But no.

Just cold.

She stood exactly where they had held each other so many times in the past, next to the waterfall, on a cliff from where opened a view over the lake. Shagrath didn’t stop to think about the irony as he walked up the cliff, stopping few steps behind her. She turned around slowly and her face turned into a twisted grin under her white mask that covered half of her beautiful face.

“Hello there, Master”, she said in a mocking tone.
“I have come to deal with a traitor…” he said quietly and stared at her expressionless.
“If you mean Adelaine I assure I can…” she continued with the grin wide on her face and a strange glow in her eyes.
“As a shadowlady a lot of trust rested on her shoulders… and she failed…” Shagrath interrupted talking quietly.

Her grin widened as she flexed her fingers and moved her lips slightly repeating a spell in her mind.
“There is no excuse for attacking ones own kin… It is my duty as your teacher to deliver a swift and… effective punishment…” Shagrath talked softly, staring ahead with his face as if it was carved out of stone. He slowly took a step forward and Neferi’s eyes flashed as her fingers started moving more quickly. Shagrath raised his left hand as he approached her. He stopped right in front of her with his palm few inches from her forehead.

Bolts of black lightning emerged from Shagrath’s chest, jumping over and through his hand to Neferi, interrupting her spell and changing her words of magic to a tormented scream of agony. Her limbs twitched recklessly, her eyeballs turned over and she fell on her knees screaming in pain – whenever she managed to gasp enough air to do so.

Another scream cut the air as well.

“No! Stop it please!” shouted Adelaine and ran up to the cliff, Minuial at her heels. They halted few steps from Shagrath and Adelaine fell on her knees and begged him to stop.

“Stop it! You’re killing her!” Minuial pleaded.

“I’m teaching… She was bestowed with great trust as a shadowlady. Turning against her own kind is unforgivable and it is my duty to punish her…” Shagrath talked softly and quietly, but his words could be clearly heard over Neferi’s screams of agony.

“She wasn’t herself!” Minuial cried.

“Matters not… She wasn’t strong enough to remain in control…” Shagrath muttered. He slowly raised his left arm and Neferi rose with it, hanging in the air and twitching like a twisted puppet.

Minuial took a step forward but stopped as Shagrath raised his right hand in the air, halting it next to his head. He mumbled few words and shadows appeared around his right hand forming a ball of dark swirling mist. Shagrath slowly turned his left hand around, both palms now facing each other, and then slammed them together.

An explosion spread from Shagrath’s hand, waving the branches of nearby trees, throwing Adelaine and Minuial off their feet and sending Neferi flying limp over the lake – a grotesque castaway doll.

“Neferi!!!” Shagrath could hear the distant and muffled cry of Adelaine.

“Noooo!” voice Shagrath couldn’t quite recognise cried and a figure dived into the lake. Someone ran down the hill unsteadily behind him.




Shagrath stood alone on the cliff, staring into distance as the sky shed the tears he could not.

Lovely... absolutely lovely

My humblest gratitude for the compliment be thine *bows with a grin*