White and with patches of the palest of blues, the sky never looked to calm before. A field of emerald grass and a painted palette of coloured flowers extended across the landscape. From the regal shades of blue to the kindest of pinks, the meadow was something more of a garden out of fantasy or something that not even the druids of the Cenarion Circle could hope to accomplish. It was truly a sight to behold, if not for its beauty, then for its tranquility. Trees only several meters high and large canopies of orange and tan leaves overlooked this place. Despite being the middle of spring the leaves took on a visage that suggested it was the fall of the year, but that's what gave this place its charm. That's what gave Quel'Thalas its beauty and its tranquility.
Within the field was a young high elf girl looking no older than her early twenties by human aging standards. Her clothing was astonishing, made only from the finest of silks. A small but long-sleeved white top covered her chest, leaving her midriff exposed. Her lower half was that of a royal blue long dress, tucked under her legs and softly brushing against the blade of leaves as she knelt down. Her feet were adorned with pearl-finished slip-ons, though a single, gold buckled strap helped tighten them should they be too loose; a one-size-fits-all design, as it were. Her eyes glistening an ice blue colour, and her hair was of a royal, golden blonde.
The young girl knelt over a small patch of flowers as her delicate hands gently tugged at them, pulling them from their stem and fastening them together into a flower chain of a rainbow coloured design. The elf hummed a soft tune as she worked her fingers in a calm and collective manner, leaving no mistake in her craft like an artisan in her own right. As she worked, a male high elf entered through what was an archway, made up of tree branches, into the field. The man looked slightly older, perhaps late twenties to early thirties by his looks. A spiked ponytail sat atop of his head while a few locks hung around his shoulders and over his face. The man was dressed in a white shirt and black pants, donning shining black dress shoes.
"Getting excited for your big day, huh, Lily?" the man spoke out with a warm smile on his face as his shining blue eyes shone in the glistening sunlight. "Haha, even now you still find the time to make your flower chains. You still need to prepare for the coming days. You should really get your dress measured today."
"Silly, I've got plenty of time today to get all of this done," Lily gave a little giggle as her fingers began to tie the stems of two flowers together; a lilac coloured flower coupled with one of a bright, ice blue hue. "anyway, you haven't even got your tuxedo measured yet, so don't give me lectures about time keeping."
"Haha, yeah, you got me there," the male elf gave a chuckle as he used a hand to flick one of his bangs off to the side. "but that's all I have left to do. You still need to get your dress done, your hair, your fancy make up… need I go on?"
"I know, I know," Lily replied as she began to fasten more colourful flowers together. "but it shouldn't take too long, right? Besides, I like being out here. It helps put my mind to ease."
"Well you can't spend all day out here, sis. You're better off finishing that little flower chain of yours before the day is wasted. Plus, you can't keep a man waiting for too long."
"Oh, but Gai, I feel so nervous," Lily responded to the man who stood beside her. "it's not every day that a woman gets married. And, just being out here makes me feel so … comforted. Like all of my worries just flow away in the winds."
"Aw, come on now. What're you worried about," Gai'vahros sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and gently pulling her closer to him, causing her to lose her balance and fall against his body. "what's got you all worked up? You can tell your big brother, right?"
"Well, you know, I'm about to get married and all. It's only natural for me to feel nervous, right? All of our friends and family will be there, and they'll all be crying and stuff, and that'll make me cry, and…" Lily gave a heavy sigh as she dropped down to her knees, her hands hung in front of her legs, still holding her flower chain. "It's a lot to take in, you know? Even though I've been preparing for days, and known about it for much longer, I still feel like I'm not ready for it. Like I'll never be ready for it." The girl gave out a soft sigh, her eyes dropping into a more saddened look.
"… Is that all, Lily?" Gai'vahros hunched forwards, turning his head to look at his sister's face, noticing her expression. He began to suspect that there was more to this than she was letting on. "Lily, tell me everything what's wrong with you. I know that look on your face; you always look like that when you're upset about something."
"Well… It's about Jaycen…"
"Jaycen? You're not gonna leave him standing at the altar, are you?"
"N-no! Of course I'm not! It's just that, ever since he proposed to me, he's been very… secluded. He's been more active in his duties lately, he's been coming home later and later every evening, he doesn't talk to me as much as usual… what if he doesn't love me anymore…?"
"Oh, Lily…" Gai'vahros held her close with both hands, kissing her on the forehead as she became more emotional with each word. "The truth is Jaycen was called to help train the new recruits, what with this god-forsaken war going on. What with the high elven army bolstering the humans in Lordaeron we've been tasked to help repopulate the militia here. Jaycen has just been so overworked right now."
"But, why didn't he say anything to me?"
"He wanted to surprise you on the wedding day, I suppose. He made me swear to keep it secret 'til the big day but I don't want to see you upset. You know, they've granted him retirement as soon as you two got married so he wanted to do all he could to help his people before he hung up his armor. He's a really good elf, Lily. Greater than most I have known."
"Oh, Gai… I feel so stupid in doubting him, now…" The girl buried her face into Gai'vahros' shirt, a few tears streaming down her cheek as she sobbed softly into his chest.
"H-hey, you're gonna get my best shirt all wet." Gai'vahros humoured her as he wrapped his arms around her, embracing her, cuddling and comforting his sister. "Lily, you had all the reason to be concerned about losing Jaycen. That shows that you really care about him, and that's the kind of devotion befitting of a newlywed. Or rather, to be newlywed. Anyway, your stupidity gives you your charm."
"T-thanks, Gai. You're always there for me. You'll always be there for me, won't you?"
"Of course I will, Lily. I'll never leave you behind or leave you alone. In all my heart, I will never leave you."
"But… Gai… I have one question."
"What is it, Lily? What do you need your big brother for, now?"
"… Why did you let me die…?"
"W…what?" Gai'vahros felt his heart pound against his chest. His throat began to close involuntarily. Something sent a chill down his spine and back up again, his mind almost frozen in a state of shock and horror.
"Why did you leave me to die…?" The girl looked up at Gai'vahros. A horrific visage of despair and death upon her face. Her expression was gaunt as her jaw hung open, her mouth agape. Her skin looked as though it was stretched across her skull like a plastic bag across its contents. Her complexion was hagged and wrinkled. Her eye sockets showing through her flesh as its pale blue hue gave a translucent look upon her bones. "You promised me… you promised you wouldn't leave me alone!"
"N-no! I… I-it wasn't my fault!"
"You left me to perish at the hands of the Scourge!" Her hands clawed up at the high elf's shirt. Her nails were long, chipped and stained of pale yellows and greens. Her bones showing through her flesh as though she hadn't eaten for weeks. Quickly her shaking, trembling fingers gripped upon the face of the horrified man. Her touch was rough, dry, and as cold as death itself. Her hair began to split and flicker in a violent wind that swept over the both of them, shifting from a shining blonde to a rusty white colour, the ends of her hair bronzed in a decrepit rust colour. "You left me to be torn apart by those monsters! What say you, Gai'vahros? What say you…?"
"Lily… I-I'm sorry! I didn't know! I… I didn't know!"
"You weren't there for me, Gai'vahros," her voice became shrill, darkened and raspy. The skin upon her bones began to slowly peel and flake away, showing only a bleached skeleton underneath with mottles of a sickly green as though fungus began to fester in. The scenery began to change, twist and warp into a sinister visage as the entire landscape metamorphed into a nightmarish plane; the trees became withered and twisted while their branches contorted and coiled around one-another; the fields became corrupt with dark purple patches of decayed grass and fauna, maggots crawling in stinking mounds of soil. The scenery turned from its glorious morning into a dank and ominous blanket of twisted shadows and darkness. "you were never there for me. You were never there for anyone…"
"No! I couldn't save anyone! It wasn't my fault! Please, forgive me! I beg for forgiveness!"
"… I will not… I forsake you…" her voice rested for a moment, but her voice became dark and distorted as though a thousand souls began to speak through her, each one Gai'vahros made out to be another elven voice. Men, women, children; Gai'vahros could make out each and every one of them as clear as crystal through his ears-- through his mind. As he looked on in horror and sorrow the skin upon his sister's face began to flake away faster. Before long he was merely looking into the opened eye sockets of a decrepit and festered skull with white hair. "We ALL forsake you…"
"NO!" Gai'vahros thrust himself forwards, his arm outstretched as he tried to call, to grasp, for someone. Anyone. But, all the elf found was a dark room with bookshelves around him, a few windows on opposite walls and a desk near them. He looked around as a cold sweat dripped from his brow and cheek. His eyes were widened and his breathing frantic and heavy, but, as he looked around frantically, he began to calm down slowly. The blood elf had recognized that he was back in the Golden Oaks Library. "I… I'm… It was all just a dream…?"
The ordeal was almost too much, almost completely shattering the foundations of his heart. He looked down at the table in front of him before placing his elbows upon its oak surface, arms up right as he leaned forwards and held his head between his palms. It was painful for the blood knight to have to revisit such painful events from his past.
"Why does this haunt me so…?" Gai'vahros muttered to himself, feeling choked up and shaken to his core from experiencing such a horrible nightmare. He began to breathe slowly, but deeply, still feeling like he was left severely winded. "Is this my repentance…?" Gai'vahros looked up as he heard a rather loud snort coming from the center of the room. Rainbow Dash was still asleep soundly. Her body was sprawled out on the mattress as half of the cape she used to cover herself draped over the sides and off her body, leaving one of her hind legs exposed and half of her upper torso. The pegasus snored quite loudly, almost so much that it was a wonder as to how Gai'vahros, or anyone else, was able to sleep through it.
Gai'vahros gave a heavy sigh as he reclined back in his chair for a moment. He began to stare up at the bare oak ceiling as his mind began to wander within a tandem of thoughts, memories and regrets. Quickly he raised both hands to his face and pressed them hard, dragging his fingers down as he tried desperately to claw the sorrow from his mind, but to no avail. His hands dropped onto his knees with a audible slap before leaning forwards, standing to his feet as he pushed the chair away from him with his calves, making a light squeak noise as the chair legs scraped against the floor. Slowly, he turned and walked towards the door and gently opening it a little, enough for him to squeeze through and close it quickly so that he didn't let too much of a draft come into the library.
The sky was calm, mystical and inviting for the troubled blood elf. He looked up at the stars above, each one glinting and glistening like a diamond upon ebon silk. He turned his attention to a bench that sat nearby on the grass between a pathway and the trunk of the library. The design reminded him much of Silvermoon's own furniture, although much smaller and made of a harder wood. Slowly walking towards it, Gai'vahros let his body fall upon a seating position on the bench, looking out towards the rest of the town before, again, staring back up at the sky.
"I wonder which one of those is Azeroth…" Gai'vahros murmured to himself before reaching a hand up in front of his face. His gloved hand stuck out, open, palm facing towards the sky as if trying to reach out for the stars before closing it into a light fist. Giving a soft sigh his arm dropped down to the side as it made a little thud against the wood of the bench. "so far away… so, so far away…" It felt good for him to get some fresh air into his lungs, much fresher than what he remembered back on Azeroth. What with the war on Pandaria the only air he breathed in was a mixture of sulphur from the Goblin and Gnomish contraptions and machinery, and the smell of iron in the blood of those he was tasked to slay.
His mind began to clear up. The visages of his nightmare began to shrivel and shrink into a collapsed void, although the trauma still stuck in his mind like paints to canvas, never to be erased. Regardless, he took another deep breath before standing back up, making his way back into the library. After he had carefully entered through the doorway, not wanting to awaken Rainbow Dash by the cold or by any noise, Gai'vahros sat back down on the chair as he did prior, leaning back against it. He thought for a moment, but his eyes began to close as fatigue began to set in as his mind felt taxed.
"Am I really forsaken…?"