The Room

   

     Thunder boomed along the distant hills, a dark and gloomy shadow cast upon the land. Trees, high and losing their leaves, twisted into sinister shapes that would play at the imagination; all very fitting, for a cemetery. Foliage crunched beneath plated boots as a woman approached a small shrine. She was tall and armored, with long, golden hair. Those radiant locks were the brightest thing as far as the eye could see- for the sun was hiding behind dense, grey clouds. The knight kneeled before a tombstone, which had been marked with the insignia of the Argent Crusade. Upon the stone, it read, 'Lilliana Firestorm, Valiant Knight.'
     "She really was something, wasn't she? The Scourge remnants still quake at the sound of her name." A voice sounded from behind the armored woman, revealing another. The other looked identical to the now kneeling woman, save for wearing tight leathers and having her hair pulled up into a lengthy ponytail. "You're just like her, you know. You take after her even more than you do father."
     "Were you following me, Aesera?" The knight rose after placing bundle of white flowers upon the grave.
     "I was looking for you, yes. Following is a bit strong of a word. Have you heard the news?"
     "About the new warchief? Yes, I heard. I couldn't be any less interested if I tried." Thunder boomed again. A few rain drops landed upon the heads of the two blondes, causing them both to glance skyward for a moment.
     "How often does it actually rain, here? It seems rather unusual."
     "A lot of unusual things have been happening here lately, in case you haven't noticed."
     "Veleris, does mother know you've returned to Quel'Thalas?" The armored blonde shook her head in response.
     "No, and I'd like to keep it that way. She's not even within Felo'Danil, is she? I had been looming around a little; it would seem Yva has been left in charge."
     "Did you get the summons, from her? She's been trying to urge us home. Now that business in Kalimdor has concluded, I had the chance to return."
     "Yes, I did. But that is not why I am here. I heard about that unusual occurrence, recently. Do you know anything about it? Strange magics?"
     "I heard about what happened, but I don't have any leads. It would seem my own investigating has yielded little but confusion on the parts of the witnesses."
     "I had a dream, the other night. An unusual one." The knight named Veleris crosses her arms in front of her and glances back to the tombstone. "Back then..., Aunt Lilliana always knew the right things to tell me when I was troubled. She understood my connection with The Light, and her wisdom soothed me. Now, I am filled with much confusion."
     "What happened in your dream?" Aesera slid over to a nearby boulder, taking a seat at its edge and crossing one boot-covered leg over the other. She played with a couple of its buckles, listening intently.
     "The thing is...- it wasn't only the other night. I had it the night after, and the next, and the next. I have spoken to the priests and the clergy and they haven't been able to give me any answers. I keep seeing this..., this place. This temple. There's no one in it, but I can hear voices, urging me in, telling me to come. But every time I make it to the center of the construct, I cannot see further, and I wake up. It's as if it is taunting me."
     "Ours is a family of secrets. Perhaps one of them is trying to sneak up on you. A suppressed memory, perhaps? Have you tried the mirror?"
     "I will not stand before that infernal artifact. Such witchcraft is an abomination."
     "Watch what you say, sister. We are in mother's lands, and she is always listening. Have you thought about returning to..., that place?"
     "It has been so very long, since I have returned to our ancestral grounds. Though perhaps..., a visit would not be out of the question. A pilgrimage may be what I need to discover the answers."
     "Question is, do you really want to know what those dreams are telling you? Sometimes it's better to just remain ignorant."
     "I feel as if..., all of these occurrences are connected, somehow. Something is happening and I need to know what is to become of us. You and I were once connected in the womb- do you not feel it too?" Aesera shifted back down onto her feet.
     "I feel something different, V." Lightning lit up the sky in a brilliant flash as another crackle of thunder was heard. "I feel a storm coming."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

     Ruins. Deep within the Hinterlands, in a place where few would look, were a vast expanse of ruins. Pillars, both broken and still standing, were wrapped with thick foliage and ivy. There was a circular alter, there, among broken statues and cracked structures. It was emptied, forgotten: a relic of the past that had since been abandoned. Slowly, Veleris Firestorm approaches the alter and kneels before it. "Ancestors, if you are listening..." The blonde leans forward, plate-covered hands running along the cool, stone surface. "I need guidance. I have tried to remain true of heart, but I..." Tears run down her lightly-bronzed cheeks and drip onto the ground. "My thoughts have been muddled. I have felt..., anger. Fear. I feel my light growing weaker, and these dreams..., I do not understand them. Is the darkness trying to take me? What has befallen my kin, my home?" The nearby leaves rustled in the wind. A voice carries, gentle, and serene. A woman's voice.
     "Do not despair, child." Veleris closed her eyes. She knew there was no image to the voice- no body to meet her eyes. It was a spirit, and a strong one. She could feel warmth envelope her body. "The Light is calling for you, to serve your greater purpose. It is calling for us all. It is in me, as it is in you. We are its body, its vessel."
     "Who..., who are you?"
     "You and I are the same. We were designed that way. The Light that you know, it lives through us. It is so much more than you understand."
     "How can we be the same?"
     "Our souls are our own, but our spirit is connected. We are of one spirit. All of us. And that spirit is Light. It is the Sun; it is the Creator. The Giver and Taker of Life. The Judgement."
     "The Light lives in our hearts. It is the way that we live. The way that we do good in this world. It is virtue, sanctity. You speak as if it is a living entity- 'spirit,' as you call it. You are a spirit: a remnant of life lost."
     "You ache to know truth. To go into the room." Veleris opens her eyes abruptly, raising her voice in her reply.
     "What do you know of that room? Where is it? What will I find there? Is this-..., is this temptation? Am I being tested? Have I not proved that I am devoted?"
     "That room is a part of us." A figure appears, shining through a sliver of light shimmering through the cracks in the ruins. She looked so familiar, and at the same time, she was not. It was if the ghost of Erythis Firestorm was standing there before her, but somehow, Veleris knew that was not the case.
     "You are-..., Valora Firestorm."
     "I am."
     "Why do you speak to me in riddles?"
     "Do you want to go to the room?" Veleris stood there, staring at the translucent figure before her. Eventually, the knight simply nods.
     "Channel your light." Veleris steps into the center of the alter, as holy magics begin to swirl around her in a circle. She creates an aura around herself, warmth and light surrounding her, encompassing her. Her body felt lighter, and lighter. Suddenly, her feet were no longer on the ground. Her armored body was lifted into the air; she remained there, suspended. "You will know truth."
     The paladin closes her eyes. Upon opening them, it was as if she had been transported to another place. The halls of her dreams were there, lined with dancing light, and pillars. She could see stars from beyond the walls, and a blue moon painted against a glittering sky. There was water falling from nowhere and running down into chiseled ducts, flowing in intricate patterns, as if leading her along a stream- but Veleris Firestorm already knew where to go. When she got to the room, she took a deep breath. She could hear her heart audibly pounding, and her hairs standing on end. Upon entering, and realizing that she wasn't going to, 'wake-up,' she continued forward. She could see another alter, there, surrounded by water. She could hear that little voice in her head, again. Telling her to go on. To move forward. And so she did.
     Appearing there, at the center of the alter, was a corporeal being. It was made up of red and golden light- though was very translucent. It took shape, after a moment. A shape that would closely resemble that of an elven woman. Still, it was nothing more than light: a reflection.
     "What-..., what are you?" Veleris approaches the alter, traversing a small bridge to make it onto the platform itself. She reaches a hand out as if to touch the spirit-like being, but it moves out of the way. It speaks to the knight, then, in a voice that sounds both male and female at the same time- two channels overlapping each other.
     "I am you."
     "You are..., me?"
     "I am your spirit. You are my body."
     "If you are my spirit-..., why are we not together?"
     "I will be returning to your world very soon."
     "Will you and I be together?"
     "It is not time."
     "Why have you brought me here?"
     "I will reunite with my body very soon."
     "My body? Me?"
     "My purest flesh."
     "I tire of all these riddles! You will answer me in a way that I can understand!" Suddenly, the figure swoops through Veleris like a ghost, going straight from one side of her to the other. The paladin inhales sharply, and as if being, 'woken-up,' from the dream, she returns to the place in which she was suspended. The light magics that were still churning around her turn a bright crimson color, and the blonde woman falls and crashes to the ground. The knight lays there unconsciously, her white armor dyed black, gold, and crimson.