#she makes her own arrows out of bone and sinew and she decorated each one with charms made of her own fur for luck

[fangsandsoftgrass]

Cirwedh fun fact #555

Her bow is called Greensarm (Green's arm) and she grew it herself! When she was still living in (kinda) isolation to learn control over her emotions and Green magic, she spent a lot of time in a small grove tended by Spriggans and when she left to travel the rest of the wilds she was gifted a branch by the matron and she grew it into a bow. Her bow is one of her most valuable possessions and when she escaped Coldharbour she had no idea it existed but she felt like she was missing a limb the connection was so strong. Eventually she recovered Greensarm when she was reunited with Gladriel on Auridon, and she regained her memory of growing it (along with a memory of her and Gladriel when they were both young)

[bricousland]

The Doors

Leya has been sent into the Emerald Dream to help deal with the Void threat. The task becomes far more than she can deal with when she's trapped in a maze of doors, visions, and madness. For the first time in a long time, Leya must overcome a challenge on her own with only Shade, her nightsaber at her side.

Leya went deep into the Dream, following the trail indicated by Ohn’ahra. The fresh air invigorated her and allowed her to keep a fast sprint through the forest.  A warm breeze guided her, and for every stride, the Dream became quieter and less groomed. The once clear path became overgrown with roots, twigs, and bushes. Branches hung low, forcing Leya to duck and leap. No birds sang this deep in the forest. It was lush with flora, and vines as thick as her thigh, choked trees as round as two of Darkshore’s largest Elms. Though there was no sun, sweat trickled down her back and hung on her brow. Leya ripped a vine from a nearby branch and used it to tie thick red locks of hair behind her shoulders. The path finally ended at the base of a lush green hill, Leya had to stop to squeeze between two ancient trees to reach it. The wind rushed past her and tore leaves from branches and swept them over the hill. With a sigh, Leya dug her fingers into the fertile soil and began to ascend the tall hill; it came loose under the weight of her feet making the climb difficult enough to force her to bury her boots into the hill to create a stair for every step she took. When she made it to the top, a valley spread out before her. It was decorated with ethereal flowers of every color and white trees similar to the ones she’d seen in Pandaria but larger and grown in odd spiral shapes. They hung, floating above the flowers, their roots dangling in the air and surrounded by a soft green light.

That’s when the stag appeared; he walked from the forest’s edge and stood so large that the meadow’s tall grass tickled its underbelly. He was white with twisted silver antlers and big silver eyes. Leya met his gaze and felt familiarity stir deep within her. His haunting eyes beckoned her and his ears turned forward. All of his attention was on her. She had seen deer similar to it wandering Azeroth but none quite so large nor noble and none called to her as this beast did. Its ears swiveled and his head whipped in another direction as if it heard something. In two graceful leaps, it disappeared into the dark edges of the forest.

There was no time for thought. Leya skidded down the hill in pursuit; soil and grass sprayed up behind her as she sprinted to catch up with the stag. The grove’s winding path opened up to her again, the claustrophobic trail became wider with each stride. She could see the stag fading in and out of the trees, its white coat glistening against the deep browns and greens of the forest. As she followed, the air began to grow stale and the smell of decay filled her nose. She coughed and came to a log barring her path. Not wanting to lose momentum, She leaned into the log and prepared to vault across. The rotting wood caved beneath her palm and sent her rolling inelegantly against hard, dry dirt. With a thud, her head met the root of a tree. The pounding sent the sky in sickening twists above her. She sat up, and the world meshed with the sky in a whirl of greens, blacks, and browns. Leya touched the sore spot on her head and felt warm blood on her fingertips. The stag was gone. 

Great.

When the world stopped spinning, she found herself kneeling at the mouth of a cave. The grass around it had shriveled and died. For every step she took, there was a bubbling impression of refuse left behind. The cave was far larger than its entrance suggested, its smooth and round walls stretched high above her head. Had it been Silvermoon, the dome above would have been colored glass, and sunlight would have shown through and lit up the dirt floor. Instead, there was darkness. Along the stone wall clung withered, old vines that had once held flowers as large as her fist. They climbed to the highest point of the dome but were so dry and brown they would crumble if touched. At the center of the cave sat a pile of bones with a large feline skull staring back at her. It stared at her with empty sockets and bared fangs, a dead guardian there to remind her that she was not welcome in the Dream.

A bone fell in soft clinks down the pile. Another soon followed and then another until they were loosely spread in the middle of the room. The pounding in Leya’s head made it difficult for her to focus. Her bow felt heavy and clunky in her hands as she struggled to pull it from its place on her back. The vine around her hair rotted away and thick red locks spread across her shoulders. Her heart pulsed in her throat as she watched the bones tremble and pull together. She nocked an arrow. Its massive paws came together first; then its legs, body, and skeletal head reattached at an alarming speed. The sinew came next, growing in white strips around knuckles and joints. The muscle bloomed from the ligaments and wrapped like ribbons around the night saber’s form until it was a hulking mass of red muscle and green eyes without lids. 

Leya took aim at the half-formed mass of flesh and bone. Before she could shoot, soft fur brushed against her arm. It was the stag, and with him, fresh air returned to the cave. The withered vines turned green again and stretched across the dome of the cave to create a beautifully woven canopy. The silver of his coat brightened the place with a soft white light. He lowered his antlers and tossed his head towards the cat. The night saber barely came to the chest of the stag, but it was defiant letting out an angry snarl. It swiped at the stag's antlers but missed. The stag forced it back up against the wall and touched the beast on the brow with the tip of his antler. Its image rippled and dispersed into a ball of formless void that hissed and raced to the edges of the cave.

“The Void is strong here, Child.”

The throbbing in her head dulled to a mild tenderness as the corruption was pushed back. In the clearing, where the illusion had been, Shade slept. Leya, struck with panic and fear, ran past the stag and threw her arms around him as the truth of the situation settled on her. She hadn’t felt the Void’s influence rioting her emotions and pushing her to fight. She’d only felt the throbbing of the wound on the back of her head; but now that the stag was there, she could feel the Void all around her, escaping to the shadowed edges of the room. Its anger was clear now, it lashed out in Leya’s mind.

He holds you back! A weakness that limits your potential!

It was always her mother's voice, dripping in disappointment, forcing a pang of heavy guilt on her heart. The taunts were as familiar to her as breathing. She ignored them. Shade stirred beneath her touch; the warmth of their connection touched her mind and the fear faded. Leya sensed recognition and respect from Shade as he laid eyes on the stag, something Shade rarely reserved for his dinner. But, the flicker of a name touched Leya’s mind and she understood.

"You're Malorne."

"I am." His antlers scraped against the upward curve of the cave as he approached her and Shade. "Ohn’ahra said you would come to my Grove. A young hunter with promise and ability to fight the Void." He paused and touched Leya on the forehead with his antler in the same way he had touched the monster. When he did, Leya was revealed. Her soft white complexion shimmered away, leaving deep bruise-colored purple skin exposed. Her hair, no longer the color of a rose, deepened to burgundy, and individual strands pulsed with void energy.  Leya stretched her hand out in front of her as the facade faded away. Even in the Dream, she wouldn't be allowed to escape it.

"Interesting,” Malorne said, nothing in his voice betrayed how he felt about her true form. She felt exposed and Malorne did nothing to ease her discomfort. He had his head held high and level with the ground, tilted only enough to keep her in his sight. He was one of the few Wild Gods she knew by name. Van had brought her to many of his people’s temples and shown her the wooden etchings that depicted the story of the great stag who loved the moon. Of all the stories he’d shown her, that one had been her favorite. At the time, Leya could relate: pursuing someone even when you know you shouldn’t. Choosing to love them even if it risked your own sanity. It’s how she had felt when she decided that Van was worth more than the few months they'd spent together. Ari had told her a different story, however, a retelling that he’d learned from the Tauren on his adventures. According to him, they said Malorne’s love was born of a desperate bargain between him and Elune. He required shelter from Tauren hunters who chased him for his pelt. They say he bargained his love for her protection.

Leya preferred the Kal’dorei’s tale. 

If only her story had ended like his, and that brought her to wonder if the moon had mourned as she had on the day Malorne was vanquished. Unlike the Gods, however, Van was not eternal. He wouldn't come back to her as Malorne had. Did that give Elune comfort? To know he'd always return? 

Leya stroked the soft fur between Shade’s eyes and pushed the questions out of her mind, it didn't matter. “She did, and I want to help.” She stood up from where she sat and took a step back to completely take in the form of the stag in front of her. 

“Do you?” with slow, delicate steps he strode to the other end of the cavern, fresh blossoms, caught by his antlers, floated down from the ceiling. The petals that were unfortunate enough to glide to the edges of the room dried up and withered. “Your people have manipulated and perverted powers beyond their understanding. They abandoned the ways of the Wild long ago, Child. How are you different?”  

Leya knew she had never been a part of the Wild like Loth or Van had. Until recently, she couldn't connect to the flow of nature like Ari. She even continued to struggle to maintain her connection to Shade. Leya wasn't different, and she wasn't special. She'd become Ren’dorei without thinking of what that would mean. She corrupted herself and separated herself from nature to escape life. There was no reason Ohn'ahra should have chosen her. “I’m not.” she said, “not really. In some aspects, I am worse than many of my people. I took the power of the Void to escape, not to fight.”

“And it gave you peace?” 

“No.” She admitted, regardless of her own hesitations, Leya had to try. “The... Kal’dorei are your people. Elune’s chosen?” His ears swiveled forward and Leya pressed on, “They are my family too, and if the things I have done to myself can help them. If it can be used to protect the Dream then I want to give back and protect it for my family.”

“Hmm.” His hoof was a clap of thunder against the floor. Hair-line fractures bled nature magic beneath his hoof and cracked open to the wall behind her. Malorne’s magic rose from the crevasses in a thin green mist that filled the room and revealed a curved seam in the wall.“Ohn’ahra and I have contained the Void Seed here, it will not be long before it floods my grove and roots itself in the Dream.” He stared at the door with contempt, the only emotion Leya had been able to gauge from him since he'd come to her. “I will tell you the same thing I told my Druids. The way in is the way out, yet you cannot turn around. To reach the center, you must always take the first door on your right. If you come to an incline, always descend. Always down, always the first door on your right. The Void will tempt you, Child. It will show you many things. It will show you visions of desire and horror. You may see the injustices of the past, wonders of the future, and days that never were and never will be. Speak with the visions as you please but do not go into any other door. Always to the right, always down. You will be lost, otherwise, and I cannot save you. If the Void becomes too much of a burden the path to return is the same.” 

“To the right and down?”

“Yes, this is the Dream. It is bound to your heart, not a direction. It will take you where you desire." 

"I understand."

"Good." The heavy stone scraped across the cavern floor and opened to only darkness within. "Succeed, Child of the Void, and the Dream will welcome you."

Darkness poured from the open door. Even with Shade nearby to enhance her vision, there was nothing, just a steady rhythm of Void washing over her. She looked at him once more and found the night sky sparkling behind the soft silver light in his eyes. “Destroying the Void has become somewhat of a hobby of ours. We’ll be back.”

Leya stepped through the door and as she did, the way out disappeared with the sound of a heavy door swinging shut. A circular room with four wooden doors appeared in front of her. Without a moment of hesitation, she took the door to her right. The next room she entered was the same as the last. She opened the door and this time it was an octagonal obsidian room with five doors. 

Is this the Dream’s doing, or the Void’s? It made no matter; she pushed through the door to her right. 

At fifty-three doors, she stopped counting. The only sound to follow her was the sound of the doors opening and closing; even the whispers had gone silent. The steady rhythm of the Void was her only company which also lent her no guidance. It got neither stronger or weaker the farther she went. 

Sometimes, the rooms rose high above her with nothing but doors to choose from, and other times, the shapes were so obtuse she could barely discern right and left. The repetitive nature of the maze was enough to drive her to madness. Her world was consumed by doors; hours spent walking through the same door over and over and over again. She was always greeted by stone or obsidian rooms with the same rotting wooden doors, the same rusted iron latches that curved into the shapes of tentacles, and the same naked eye clumsily scratched into the wood. Always the same door, always to the right, always another room.

Doubt began to take root as she and Shade progressed through a door. Maybe Malorne had mistaken and Leya was lost. She cursed as she thrust another door open. If she went left, perhaps the continuous circles would cease and she could walk in a straight line again. Another door opened and closed. If she were going to be lost to madness then at least she could be comfortable.  

She put her hand on the door to her right but stopped to consider the one to her left.

This room had three walls and it was so cramped that she and Shade nearly filled it. Shade’s growl filled the room as she touched the wooden door on the left. His tail lashed violently from side to side and his fur prickled down his spine. Shade’s discomfort pulled on Leya’s own emotions and steered her away from the leftmost door. He spun in a circle, his agitation flaring in the back of her mind, Leya watched as he reared up on his hind legs and clawed through the rotting wooden door and tore the iron-wrought tentacles off the frame. The wood of the rightmost door crumbled beneath his paws and the sound of fallen iron echoed in the room. He glared at the Void mist that poured from the door and his thunderous roar boomed in the darkness. The mist was unaffected by his growing anger and danced into the room, wrapping playfully around his paws and her legs. She touched Shade on the top of his head and his irritation receded. He continued to growl and lash his tail but followed Leya into the abyss.

The next room was oval and decorated with images of a city. It was barren of life and homes. There were no plants that she could see, no markets, or parks. The only inhabitants walked in dark robes with sweetie limbs hanging out of their hoods. The world was paved in sleek obsidian, its structures rose in sharp obelisks and layered platforms. The sky around it was red and hot. There was no moon, and the sun was hidden behind thundering black clouds. 

The sleeping city wakes.

Six corridors stretched out from the painted room. Leya chose the rightmost and entered a long tunnel. The hall was so narrow that if she were to stand on her toes, her head would touch the ceiling. Beneath her feet, the ground squished and sloshed under a thin layer of stagnant water. The smell was magnified through her connection with Shade; the stench made her stomach twist and her mouth water. She had to stop and breathe before she could swallow the bile in her mouth and continue forward. 

A deep red light lit the passage, though she couldn’t say where it came from. Like everything else in the maze, it seemed to exist without reason. There was an endless row of doors to her left, but nothing to her right. Leya tapped against the right wall and found nothing but thick stone beneath her hand. She continued forward, pushing and pounding against the wall to her right. The sloshing and squishing beneath her feet did nothing to ease the sounds she heard. There was scratching and scurrying within the walls that made her think of rats. Shade heard them too for when he looked in their direction, they stopped. He would bare his teeth and snap at the air, his irritation slowly returning. The sounds behind the doors were even more disturbing. One of the doors shook and thumped. From another, a woman cried from the other side pleading for someone to open the door. Then further down came a pained shriek that elicited a panicked growl from Shade. He swiped instinctively, and his anxiety trembled in Leya’s mind. Leya touched him and his anxiety lessened. The two hurried passed. 

But, not all the doors were closed.

Resolved not to look, she kept her attention to the empty side of the tunnel. There had to be a door somewhere but as she searched, she found nothing, and eventually, her curiosity got the best of her.

In the first door, a valley of white-barked trees with golden leaves was lit up as if it were aflame, yet no fire was anywhere to be seen. Old Pandaren temples stood abandoned and crumbling with thick black tentacles protruding through the stone. The burnt orange that lit the city highlighted the floating obelisks and staggered platforms. Engorged parasitic worms flew overhead, carrying servants of the Void. And eyes, like the ones carved into each door, bulged from the trees, temple walls, obelisks, and monuments. The swiveled back and forth, up and down: looking, watching, observing its masterpiece. The black storm clouds parted and that’s when Leya saw the god that loomed over the valley. Its dome-shaped head was split down the middle with teeth stretched towards the sky. It wanted to consume it all, Leya could sense his will pulsing in her veins. It wanted everything. It wanted her to have everything: the valley, the sky, the moon. It would all be bathed in his image. It felt her too and in unison, hundreds of orange eyes looked upon her through dark slitted pupils. The whispers in her mind soared.

All eyes shall open.

Leya forced herself to meet the gaze of the god before her. Aerren and his bitch had thought themselves Gods. They had no idea. This god was power, this god had a plan. They were fleas compared to what this thing could do and Leya was afraid. Black smoke snaked through the valley, reaching for her, but before those bits of corruption could drag her in, she slammed the door. The sound traveled down the hall and the wooden carving of an eye stared at her. Leya could hear her heart in her chest, beating to the rhythm of the void that surrounded her. In a fit of rage, she screamed and buried a purple and white fletched arrow into the center of the wooden eye. Gathering some catharsis, she moved forward but only as far as the next open door. The sweet smell of sap and heavily spiced food gave her pause and she peeked through to find...

A home with no door. 

Steamed grape leaves sat in a woven basket, sitting atop a pot of boiling water. She’d never forget the disheveled bed that they never bothered to make or the wall that Leya had started carving important dates into. The day they met, their wedding day, Ari’s birthday because she always forgot. And there, just inside the archway were their initials. A.S. + V.L.! It was a silly thing Leya had done once they’d realized they’d swapped names. The entire home was like that: a chaotic mish-mash of red and gold, violet and silver. It didn’t match at all. Nothing in their home belonged. The sight of it made her heart ache with longing.

My home.

As soon as she thought it, steam breathed out of the basket signaling that the meal was finished. Van came into the scene and knelt at the hearth. His long hair was tied back and a quiet smile was on his face. Leya’s heart jumped in her throat and her hands quivered. Even Shade mewled quietly at her side. Van carefully took the basket from the fire and set it aside. He glanced over his shoulder and his kind silver gaze found her. “Leya.” his voice purred in her ears as he stood and held his hand out to her, making a sweeping gesture to the food. Tears stung her eyes and her foot edged forward. 

She wanted nothing more. Even if it was a lie, it was beautiful.

Shade’s cold wet nose touched her palm and the grief she felt in him matched her own. No. Leya thought. She pulled her foot back and touched the top of Shade’s head, searching for strength. “I can’t, I have to go,” she said to Van, her cheeks wet with tears. “Others are counting on me. I love you.” Van’s smile fell and his brows knit together in worry. He took a step towards her, reaching out to hold her, to comfort her. 

She shook her head and backed away from the door, I’m sorry. It’s gone. Our home is a pile of ash. I can’t go back. She closed her eyes and let Shade lead her away. 

Further on, Leya came upon a feast of corpses. Soldiers, savagely slaughtered, laid in pools of congealing blood. Some had been separated from their heads while others were cut open and bleeding with their innards poured out of their bellies. Flies buzzed around severed hands which still clutched their swords and shields while carrion perched on rotting flesh and picked at the eyes. Standing in the center of them all was a woman tall and lithe in stature. Her skin pulsed with a deep blue void, hiding the trail of freckles across her nose. Her eyes, wide and black met Leya’s and she spoke in a tired, twilight voice. “This is how we save everyone.” Behind her a man appeared, silhouetted in the red darkness by golden light. A loving smile touched the corners of her lips. Pleased, she winked and put her back to Leya. “Hello, Hummingbird.”

Leya ran.

The hall went on and on, door after door on the left and never on the right. There were more doors than she could count. Open doors, closed doors and none of them would draw her attention. Shade ran beside her, growling low, and Leya ran until she could run no more.

Finally, she came to a pair of double doors emblazoned with gold. They swung open with such force that it made Leya stop and look. A fair woman lay sprawled on barren dirt with a sword run through her chest. Her flesh had been picked from her body and from the blood that pooled around her, flowers of blue and gold bloomed. Many of the petals had been picked clean and the woman still bled. Gasping and convulsing she was focused on the sky above her. Her cheeks dusted with dirt and tears, her mouth stretched open in an inaudible scream as the sky shattered into shards of thin glass and a chained hand reached down, bloody and desperate to finish her. Leya watched as the woman’s life was taken and in a panic, she turned away. They had to keep moving.

With us, you will find salvation.

It would be another hour before the long hall finally ended in a rising wooden staircase. Every door opened or closed had been to her left. Leya looked back. The unnatural light that guided her was going out, she realized with a start. The Void wouldn’t let her do this forever. She could see only thirty doors at most and as she watched one more disappeared and the darkness came a little farther down the hall, creeping towards her. As she watched, she could hear something moving. It was the rattling of broken chains and a form shuffling, dragging itself slowly through the stagnant water. There was a slop and a hiss that made the walls around her tremble. The void in her surged and her fear rose, manipulated by the unseen force. It was powerful and it promised death. She could not go back and she could not stay here. There was no door on her right and the stairs went up. The Void would have her and she’d be lost. Better to have gone through the door with Van than face this unknown.

Another door disappeared. Then another. The sounds grew louder. Shade’s tail lashed from side to side and his hackles rose as he pressed himself back against the wall. 

He hears it too. He’s afraid.

Leya began to pound her fist against the wall on her right. There has to be a secret door I cannot see. 

Another door disappeared. 

Another. 

The first door on the right, he said, always the first door on the right. 

Leya looked over her shoulder at the row of doors still left. The first door on the right... It came to her. … is also the last door on the left! The Void loved technicalities. There was no time to doubt. Leya turned around and threw herself through the door. Beyond was another room with four doors. To the right, she went. With new vigor, she went to the right and to the right, and to the right, until she was once again dizzy and out of breath.

She stopped in another obsidian chamber, but only one door awaited her. It was the mouth of a cave and Malorne waited on the other side. “Child.” he said, “You have made it out safe.”

“What?” Leya said, confused. “I’ve been in there for hours and still not found it.”

“You have taken a wrong turn, then. Come, I shall show you the way.”

Leya started towards the mouth of the cave but hesitated when she saw a small wooden door to her right, closed...

“That is not the way, Child.” Malorne’s voice was firm, “The Void Seed continues to corrupt the Dream and you must find it.”

“You cannot save me.”

“Stubborn child, you will be lost and never found. Your brother will die trying to find your bones.”

Leya walked away and Malorne shrieked, “No, No! To me, come to ME I say!” His horns collapsed inward and his face crumbled until it was nothing but a skull. Yellow and red eyes bulged from his sockets, staring at her while a tentacle lashed between bone-white teeth. “You are mine!”

She left the nightmare behind, entering a stairwell. One that went down. She and Shade began to descend and before long her legs were aching. The staircase finally ended and opened into a room. It was fashioned with doors made from dark, heavy wood. Leya laid her hand against the one on the right and she could sense the power of the Dream radiating off of it. The wood of a World Tree. It was beautiful; unlike all the other doors she had encountered, this one was heavy and healthy. A picture of the moon with the clouds and the stars was intricately carved into it. The fear that had chased her, washed away as she pushed the door open, praying to whatever god that would listen, for this to be the last.

The room was bathed in twilight. All walls had fallen away so what remained was a night sky full of stars. The moon was nowhere to be seen, but the flood of stars in the sky was enough to light the obsidian dais in front of her. On that dais was a flower of incredible beauty. Its petals were broad and navy blue. There was but one singular center petal curved protectively around the stamen. From its center, a mist of concentrated voice seeped out then dispersed in an indigo light throughout the room at the pace of a steady heartbeat. 

We knew you were to come. We have been waiting, Ada’Leya. We have knowledge to share with you, the flower beckoned, And power to bestow. You have passed every trial. Now come, all your questions shall be answered.

“I’m not interested in your power or your answers.” Leya took a step towards the flower and Shade snarled. His distrust mingled with Leya’s and it gave her pause. Shade stalked around the altar and his nostrils flared as the flower sent out another wave of corruption. His anger was as strong as hers, “The Void has done nothing but cause pain.”

She reached for the flower but before she could, she heard a voice as thin as a mouse's whisper. “Leya.” The small voice was a shout in the quiet of the room and did not reverberate in her mind like the others. It was small, sweet, familiar, and real. She found him in the far edges of twilight, his bright blue, laughing eyes disguised by all the stars around him. He came forward, dressed in the armor of a Farstrider. He had Ari’s face and deep red hair just like hers.

“Dad.”

A gift… gift… gift… The flower echoed in her mind. She stared at the man she had not seen in nearly twenty years. He was exactly how she remembered him. We can give you a family that loves you… accepts you… 

Her father embraced her. “My little girl.” His voice was soothing. Had it always been? Her mind grew foggy as she tried to recall memories of her father. His hand slid lovingly through her hair, his voice becoming a distant echo. “My free, brave little girl. You are perfect.” Her knees buckled under her own weight and her forehead rested against his chest. “That’s it, my girl, rest.” She lifted a hand and watched as ribbons of void were pulled from her fingertips. 

Another trick. It’s always a trick. Leya tried to push away from him but she was too weak. Another pulse of the void came from the flower. It rippled through her bones and held her where she stood. It commanded her to be still and her body was too weak to resist.

Her eyelids grew heavy and her father’s face became a blur. Shade. She could barely make out the shape of the nightsaber charging towards her. Let me in… she went limp in the arms of her father and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

It was Shade’s anger that woke her. A wave of deep rumbling anger at the monster who dared touch his master’s Life Mate. The Hunt replaced the Void in her veins and the urge to fight, to protect overwhelmed all other desires. Her eyesight was sensitive enough so that the darkness of twilight was more like dusk. Her tail thrashed from side to side and her fur stood along her spine. She saw her weaker body, limp and weak, through Shade’s eyes. 

She bared her fangs as the corrupted scent of the Void hit her. The smell was wrong. This whole place had the wrong smell. Shade’s thoughts intruded upon her own, ... not the smell of nature, it told her... corruption, kill it… protect. Her father watched her with a satisfied smile “Unruly beast. You can do nothing without the command of your master, can you?” He spat, he raised his hand and in tandem with the heartbeat of the flower, pushed her away with shadows. The force of the spell was enough to throw her off balance but not enough to knock her off her feet. She was powerful now, there was real strength in her paws, and her feet and mouth were daggers that could not be taken away. The small elf couldn’t stop her.

The monster continued to pour Leya’s void into the flower. It became engorged the more it was fed and its roots dangled off the edges of the dais while the stem thickened and took on a bark-like texture. Leya crouched and when her father’s back was turned to her, she lunged and tackled him to the ground. Her elven body dropped in front of the dais, but she paid it no mind. The only thing she could see was her target. Her razor-sharp claws shaved metal off his breastplate and her fangs crunched into the armor. Her two massive incisors punctured the metal and crushed his lungs. The bones gave under the pressure of her bite and the taste of hot blood flooded her senses. It fueled her anger as she flung the body of Arithil Lightweaver across the night sky. 

His body hit something solid with a crack. He stood and with one side of his chest caved in, laughed. Leya licked the blood from her nose and let out a loud roar. She charged and tackled him once more. The two of them tumbled in a haze of fur and flesh. Her back legs found him and ripped through his abdomen while her front claws tore the flesh from his face. As she reached with open jaws to remove his head from his shoulders, he struck her with a powerful surge of Void energy. She skidded across the ground with a hard thud. Her fur rubbed raw as she hit the altar, nearly crushing her weaker form. Her chest was on fire as the direct hit from the void began to seep into her skin. She roared and then everything went black. 

She woke up. 

Shade was a mere five feet away from her, standing and readying to charge the Seed’s servant. His shoulder was naked from his fall and she could see the Void creeping across his exposed flesh. Leya took advantage of his distraction and scrambled to her feet. She stood with such speed that whiplash turned her stomach in knots. With the taste of blood still in her mouth and her head pounding, Leya wretched. She grabbed the corner of the dais and pulled herself up, coughing while her entire world spun, the sensation threatening to relieve Leya of her stomach’s contents a second time. Shade’s anger and pain gripped her through their connection, she regained her focus and reached across the dais, grabbing the flower by one of its delicate leaves. How dare you -- Leya tore one of its petals off. For my mother. She pulled off another one, For my father. Both hands clutched the last two petals and she tore them from the heart of the flower. My sisters. 

Shade roared in pain behind her. Another blast of void struck him, and she could sense its corruption seeping into their bond. There was a hard push on the back of her mind. The Void tried to take over again but her own void, fueled by anger, pushed past the pain.

You will die for this!

I hope so. She reached into its center and grabbed a hold of a soft, fleshy mass on the inside and pulled. For Ari. The void’s servant screeched in pain. From the corner of her eye, she saw Shade grab him by the back of the neck and in one quick motion, snapped it. 

She smiled.

Leya yanked harder and pulled out the core of the flower. A heart of bruised blue sat in her hand, pulsing with corruption. The night sky around her fell away leaving nothing but a stone cave littered with the bones of the lost Kal’dorei. She looked around at the dozens of bodies that surrounded her. All appearing as if they’d been there for years, the flesh long rotted away and their robes faded and moth-eaten.

Leya clutched the heart and took an arrow from her quiver. She shoved the head of the arrow into it and when it persisted, she let out an angry scream. She tore the arrow out and stabbed it again and again until it came to its final beat. As the beating heart slowed, Leya’s anger began to subside and relief started to replace it. The heart bulged in one final beat but then exploded. Leya flew backward and the void sizzled inside her. It was everywhere, in her fingertips, her toes, her blood, and her heart. It seared her from the inside and bombarded her mind with taunts and whispers. There was so much, she couldn’t try to comprehend it. She felt shade at her side and his paw on her chest. The void, in slow pulses that followed her own heart, balanced and returned to normal. The flower sat rotted on the dais and the heart was nothing but a mass of torn flesh in her hand.

Leya threw it to the side and climbed to her knees. Her under armor was soaked through with sweat and her unbound hair stuck to the side of her neck and cheeks. Her eyes felt heavy and a dull throb of pain endured at the back of her head. She leaned into Shade and pressed her forehead to his. The Void corruption in him was gone with the flower and she breathed a sigh of relief.

The cave spun and suddenly they were in darkness once again. But she couldn’t discern the Void’s presence anymore. It was gone, and all she could feel was the flow of nature wrapping around her skin invigorating her and returning her energy.

Malorne appeared, “The Void is gone, Child.” He walked towards her, big silver eyes the only two stars she could see. “Ohn’ahra was right to choose you.” Leya stayed quiet as he touched his nose to her forehead. “You have my thanks, and my blessing, Ada’Leya Starwind. Use it wisely.”

As he turned to walk away, the darkness began to fall and she could feel herself being pulled out of the Dream. Leya quickly scrambled to her feet. “One question!” Malorne stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, ears turned forward, waiting. Even as she gathered her words, his image was fading and her mind was beginning to clear. “Which tale about you and Elune is true?”

The stag seemed to smile and his answer woke her up.