Orphaned and Damned

[MunaZaldrizoti 8037]

Spoiler

 

 

 

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The days had run into weeks and then into months as the white-haired figure's haggard form trudged across the ashen sands of the Korvassa, or what had formerly been known as the largest desert in the lands of Arcas. The battle against the Inferi had ended with the death of an aenguldaemon and the fleeing of the descendants back to their provinces, leaving behind both their own dead and the corpses of demons alike. However, one elfess had been determined to regain the region she had been left to reside within since her birth, the only place she had ever known besides the high sandstone walls of Al'Faiz. She had never known her mother or father, both of whom seemingly happy to be rid of her. They had only left her with a small note, bidding the individual who found her to call her Manon.

 

Manon had lived there for most of her existance, happy to keep to herself despite the poverty and destitution it brought her. It made her happy to discover what lay buried beneath the sands, to discover the rare oasis or watch the desert blossoms bloom in their bright crimsons and magentas. That all ended, of course, when the Inferi legions invaded, claiming Al'Faiz and the Korvassa for their own. She had fled upon a straying colt who had managed to break free of his bonds, residing in the forests surrounding Aegrothond until a time in which she could join the armies that sought to reclaim her homeland. When that time had eventually come, she was content to add her body to the forces of the descendants, only seeking to take back that which had taken her in as a small and helpless babe. An inanimate city and region, but the only thing akin to a parent she had ever known, in it's own way.

 

When the aengulic bodies of Xan, Aeriel, and Malchaediel advised them to fallback after the slaying of Gazardiael,  Manon had been one of the last to make the hastened trek away from the smoldering battlefield, the desert sands crackling and splitting around her. Reaching the very edges of safety, a screech from above alerted the elfess too-late that a straying demon had found her, it's blackened claws brought across Manon's face. Her sight went red as blood poured from her, the creature having ruptured both of her eyes. Screaming and bracing her palms against her wounds, she managed to make it just beyond to the walls of a reclaimed-Al'Faiz before collapsing, her head spinning as the last of her vision faded into nothing. She recalled afterward the final image she had seen...the stained ichor upon her hands and the stars above, that seemed to watch her in her pain and anguish.

 

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Her aimless trek had brought her to a craggy beach, though where was unknown to her. She heard the crashing of the waves upon the shore, and stray gulls cawing overhead. She would never see a sunset on the horizon again. That fact, in her exhaustion, was enough to break her. A sheen of sweat upon her brow, Manon fell to her knees. She felt the grains of sand burn into her skin, but she seemed no longer to care. What tears she could muster slid heated down her cheeks as the water came to just meet her form, the salt filling her nostrils as she wept. She lifted her chin, heaving heavily as she called out in a weakened tone, to whatever or whomever could listen in what she thought to be her final moments. "Please...I don't want to end like this...." She'd shake her head furiously, "I cannot see beauty anymore. The home I loved, the people. Taken from me by a horror I was too gullible to see when I had the ability to." She'd guide her palms to the sand as well, the sea water rushing between her splayed digits. "Please...I want to live again. Life has already left me with so little...but...I don't want to die. Damn the forces that decided that they had to take my eyes from me too, just to watch me suffer before I perish!" She'd raise her head once more, though her voice seemed to carry with an anger it hadn't had previously. "I will not let fate take them from me...just someone, anyone....show me how to reclaim my purpose...and my existance."

Manon would pull herself offward and to the side, form pressing against what she could only imagine was a stone formation gathered upon one of the dunes. Her head fell back as her breathing slowed, hair mangled by seaspray and kneecaps raw from being dug into the sands. She pulled her tattered shawl about herself, unable to cover herself entirely as she wished, and drifted off into a weary sleep, as she had so many nights before.

 

Little did Manon understand that perhaps someone, or something, was listening afterall.

 

Spoiler

Little bit of set-up for a new persona of mine! Haven't gotten to write like this in a while, so please enjoy!