Together but Alone
It was a rare sight, seeing Raydex cry. The experienced huntress had never been very emotional, not since the training she'd been through. But now she was crying, her dear wind serpent, Deadlock, wrapped around her, dark indigo scales dull. One among their number had been lost, succumbed to the strange disease he'd been fighting since they'd been partnered, something that made him feral, uncontrollable. Kael was gone.Her druid friend stood at the door to their permanent room in Cantrips & Crows, quiet. They could venture on later, but Rayd was messed up pretty bad. It wouldn't be fair to disturb her now. Just like they had mourned Drassil's pet baby dragonhawk, they'd mourn Kael.
“No. We have to carry on, now. It's not fair to Dormi to leave her family hanging like this. She needs to tell them what happened – it's not an easy story secondhand anyhow.” The bronze dragon who had joined the two night elves growled in agreement. She was cramped against the wall, unfortunately. It had been worse before Rayd had gotten her other allies – Paranoia, Loki, and Odin – good homes in the Dalaran Pet Stables.
“When do we leave?” A chilling voice made up the last member of their group – a young draenic death knight and her zombie crocodile.
Rayd staggered to her feet. “Now. There's a portal to Tanaris around in the Alliance Quarter – we can go through there. It'll be fastest.” She sighed and dropped her helmet over her head, concealing tearstained cheeks. It wasn't a long walk, and it was an even shorter ride with her and her allies on their respective mounts – her Smash, Drassil's Stormfront, and Mocking's Bonecruncher. Frankly, they were all pretty odd names, but hey, they were still normal compared to those annoying people riding sparkly ghost ponies.
After a short stop dropping Deadlock off with her children at the Dalaran stables and an equally short ride through a portal, they found themselves in front of a Warden in the Caverns of Time. He greeted Epidormi.
“Rayd, Mocking, Drass, this might take a while to explain, so you can go find a nice seat down in our little town and chat around.”
Rayd shook her head. “Mocking, Drass, stay here – Drass can practice flying and Mocking can practice speaking normally. I'm going outside.” With that, she turned her huge black kodo around – he'd been a little baby when she'd found him in that despicable dwarf's cellar, but he sure had grown. He was surprisingly fast, lumbering across the desert, and most wild beasts ignored her. Uncaring, unwanting. Nothing special...not like Kael, poor Kael. He was still alive somewhere, driven completely feral and insane by the disease. Alone. She was alone now, too, Deadlock at the stables fawning over her younger daughter Mari. They still had their bond, but it was stretched by the continents, and she felt so...alone, yes.
A bellow interrupted her thoughts (which she had become very lost in) as a strange creature – some sort of mutant wasp? - shot some sort of needle at Smashed's feet, causing him to fall – Rayd still on his back – into their nest. She quickly unbuckled herself as the ground drew closer and prepared to land, thankful that years of practice would make the fall far less troublesome (with some help, of course, from the lovely necklace she had purchased from that charming young troll conman). It must've been a good sixty feet now, and with how she felt, she wasn't ready to return. She commanded Smashed to remain where he was, then carefully walked through the tunnels, a burning trap in her gloved hand with the dual purpose of protection and lighting.
Though the caves were populous, she soon found herself in a near-empty room. Mounds of empty eggs – no children inside to break free – surrounded what appeared to be some sort of silithid. But it was different, so alone.
It didn't seem very aggressive, either, for when it saw her, it simply rattled quietly, almost sadly. She couldn't help but feel sorry for her, sitting so alone. Had the other silithids abandoned this part of the nest? She walked closer and then saw the problem – the creature's foot was stuck underneath a fallen rock. She sighed and took out her freezing trap, just in case it decided to attack, and she then removed the rock. It nuzzled her, nearly knocking her down.
“You're alone too, aren't you? The other silithids abandoned you?” She could swear it just nodded, though she was pretty sure that silithids weren't as smart as Deadlock or Odin. “I'm sorry. I lost someone too.”
It didn't occur to her until she, her new friend, and Smashed had almost reached the Caverns of Time that she felt whole again.
What did you think? Is it any good?
