(15) Desire

Days melded into weeks . In the time that Annaliese had found herself forgiven for her transgression against Aislin, by no means on Keruptis' part, she had formed an uneasy relation with Knath. At times, she thought she could give herself to him completely, share in his darkest desires--indeed, her mind danced around visions of rituals of power, and wells of souls, giving unborn children of the great D'Mort family innate ability with the dark arts. His promises were seductive, but his touch made her shirk away, bringing her back to her senses--these dark hallways in her mind were not hers to have. The thought of bearing him children brought her back to the ones she had lost. The violet ring on her opposite finger now gleamed just as beautifully as the onyx one which swore her to the Scions of Darkness, and yet…

This was not her desire. And it yet it was. How could she explain?

Annaliese was jarred back into the present-a tug on her arm suddenly sending a tremor of vision down her spine. She felt his arm snake tightly around her waist, the very sound of his seductive voice bringing a wave of dark thought over her mind.

"I have a gift for you, Anna…" Knath whispered, a curl of shadowy breath in her ear. Letting herself be lead away, she glanced behind her shoulder, the sound of fluttering wings catching her attention. There, the gnome stood at the moonwell, an owl perched on his shoulder, watching the couple walk away.

Annaliese glanced quickly back up at her beau as the sun began to set. She swore she thought the gnome's eyes had gleamed yellow--just for an instant.

(Later...)


The faint sound of crickets woke her next. And wake she did with a start, her eyes already adjusted to the soft shadows of the small cabin she found herself in. A night breeze tussled the sheets she was wrapped in, and through the carved wooden windows she could make out Ashenvale wilderness. A wolf sung into the night, long and sorrowful, as her hand brushed over a form beside her on the bed. Knath slept soundly there, his intense eyes shut behind lids. She stared there a long while at her betrothed, watching his chest softly rise and fall with each quiet breath, his hand curled around the edge of the bed sheets. She only had to look down at her state of undress to know what had transpired, but as for where her mind had been, she had nothing. Her body was an afterthought in her mind, she could care less what Knath did with it at the end of the night--she was now bound to him after all. Her state of numbness to all things made the flesh less precious than it would seem to other women, and she was more dead than alive. A ghost of flesh.

Wasn't it time then, to end this suffering? Bastion's legacy of torment? Anna stepped into the moonlit pavement, just outside of the tiny cottage, and peered up into the starry sky. What bothered her more was the lapses of reality she had, time missing she could not recall. She couldn't remember anything after Knath lead her from Stormwind Park earlier in the evening. And at times, she plainly felt she was just falling away.

'Falling away? Oh yes, fall away, little lost wife.'

She gasped, hearing the voice. It was her own, but…not. It was inside of her, as before. But stronger.

'Yes, stronger.' A delicate laugh echoed inside of Annaliese, half rising through her throat. It came from her lips as a murmured chortle.

'You don't remember. Poor thing. That's alright. Ah, how we have waited for this so long! He used a vial from the gnome.' A snort. 'Centuries of secrets given away to get you to bed him. Hah! Lovely, isn't it?'

Annaliese quivered as she fell against the door frame, pulling the bed sheet tighter around her form as this Other spoke inside of her. The voice sent her blood aboil, the crawling hatred, the boiling desire, a source behind her power. Streams of shadow gathered to her from all corners of the cabin, solidifying, becoming unstable with the fel suffused into the substance.

'He killed Bastion for you. Let you release your -lovely- little children he entrapped. You should love him for all he's done for you. Instead, you sit, -nailed- to your own fear of what he is! You should have joined the spirits the night elf released for you. Like a -good- little mother.'

Annaliese growled in the mention of the souls she fought to free, and the shadows seemed to take focus, instead of drifting aimlessly. Threading together like a web, the energy fogged a patch of forest floor outside, deadening the luscious earth, twisting vines into sick, tainted versions of themselves. There was quiet inside of her mind, and then a slow, thick laugh, louder, growing louder until it ended in a whispered string of volatile words:

'You didn't -want- to die, did you?! Aren't ready to seal the pact Bastion left you? A five year sentence isn't fair, is it? ~Greedy greedy warlock, wan-ting so much mo-ore~'

"Get out of my head!" Anna screamed, the shadows coalescing and rushing full force into the room behind her. Glass imploded, littering the floor inside of the cabin.

'Get used to it, weakling--I'm here to stay!'

The tight grasp of Knath's hands on her shoulders made the whispered voice drift away just as quickly as it had come.

"Anna…come to bed," he chuckled at his shaken love, calming the woman with a charming smile. "This is no time for practicing, my gem."