“If it was so important Alyannia would have come herself.” Said Methios, who was sitting up against a tree one leg stretched out, the other bent, with dagger in hand resting on the bent leg, cutting into an apple.

“My mistress sends word, she needs your help.” Responded Belnik, a demon imp, disgusting little creature no more the 2 feet in height, arms that reached the ground, head with ears point straight out, black skin and a faint green glow that emanates from the creature.

“That’s nice, can’t you see I’m busy, go bother someone else.” With that he put an apple slice in his mouth.

“But it concerns Lexanya, mistress fears she may be in trouble.” Said the demon.

Methios paused and stared at the imp. Panic rose in the little imps face. “Oh no!”
In an instant Methios had knocked the imp on the ground and was standing over him, his foot on Belnik’s chest.

“Why wouldn’t you mention this when you first showed up, instead of just demanding for me to go to Alyannia?” as Methios asked this applied some pressure to the demons chest, making him squirm.

“If I knew mentioning the sister would have brought you to her, I would have mentioned it sooner. My mistress did not say it would be difficult to have you answer her call,” replied Belnik.

Methios staring at the demon applied a great amount of pressure. Belnik now eyes wide, mouth open, gasping for breath, pushed with all his might to remove the foot without success.

“No I don’t think I will go see your mistress. If Lex was in trouble she would have called on me by now.” Releasing the imp from beneath his foot Methios was on his way back to his seat when a young girl ran up to them. Making eye contact with Methios, she trips over the little imp still lying on the ground, holding his chest in pain.

“OWE!! I think you broke a rib!” shouted Belnik at Flora, who was now scrabbling to get back on her feet. “Hey where you going, I demand an apology!” continued Belnik. Methios who was now laughing at Belnik stopped abruptly and disappeared into the shadows.

The girl now on her feet turned to face Belnik and pulled out her dagger. “What are you going to do with that little one? Methios tell her to put the dagger away or I will burn her little face off.” Belnik turned to face Methios. “Methios?”

Out of nowhere two flayers burst onto the scene, the first not taking his eyes from the girl trips as well on Belnik and hits the ground hard. Taking this opportunity she jumps on the back of the grounded flayer and stabs with all her weight into its back. The flayer not hurt but angered starts to shake twist and turn trying to get her off, using the impaled dagger as a handle she holds on for her life.

“I AM NOT A DOOR MAT!!” shouts Belnik and hits the flayer in the face with a fireball, igniting the lose skin.

While the girl pulled the dagger free she hears from behind her, “Aim for the base of the skull.” With what strength she has left jams the dagger into the base of the flayer’s skull killing it instantly. The girl turned to  face the voice behind her sees Methios beside the second flayer, decapitated at his feet.

“Took you long enough” said Methios.

“Where was your help, you left me to defend myself against a Flayer with the help of a little girl!” shouted Belnik.

“Shut up you lived, plus it looks like to me that the little girl did all the work,” responded Methios as he made his way over to her, who had collapsed, and was now on the ground kneeling. Her arms covered in flayer’s blood at her side, dagger still in hand, staring at the now dead flayer.

Methios stood over the girl, staring in deep thought. After several minutes of silence he asked “What’s your name?”

“Flora”

“Is your family close by?”

Looking at the flayer “About a dozen of them attacked our caravan, they are all dead.”

Methios whistled and from behind several trees came out a black raptor. From a side satchel pulled out a small flower about the size of a finger. Putting the flower in the girl’s collar. “Now to get back to the main road you will need to follow the river which is” Methios paused and looked in several directions, and then pointed eastward “straight that way.”

Still in shock over everything that happened Flora stood and stared in the direction Methios had pointed.
“At the river take a right and you should after a day’s walk hit the main road.” Flora nodded that she understood. At this Methios mounted and started to ride away.

“Hey wait for me” shouted Belnik, who jumped onto the back of the mount. Watching the Blood elf and little demon ride away Flora waited for a goodbye that never came.

After riding in silence for fifteen minutes Methios final spoke. “’You don’t choose the life of a rogue its chooses you’ was the first thing Lex ever said to me.” Again the silence continued until “Where is Alyannia?”

Belnik smiled “Mistress will be pleased”

((guest post by Methios))

“No! We’ve done it your way and now we’ll do it my way.”

“Aly please hear reason. It’s only been a month. Jonathan will return with word. Please just give it a little more time.”

“Let’s be realistic, Flamededge is probably in Westfall lighting little gnomes on fire for sport. Besides do you honestly believe some pathetic heartfelt letter from little sissy is going to bring Lexanya home. I highly doubt it had any affect on her. Lexanya does not bend for the emotional Nori, not even for you.” There was an almost sadistic pleasure in the words. Alyania had hoped this would be enough to get her sister to leave so that she could find out real information.

“How dare you speak of her like that. She’s our sister Alyania. Whatever you choose to believe is fine but I will not let you taunt me like when we were children. I am grown now and I can form my own opinions. I know Lexanya better than you ever will. She’ll come home. Regardless of whatever scheme you have planned.” And with that Noricissa stormed out.

“Finally. Little spoiled brat. Belnik! Belnik you no good minion, SHOW YOURSELF NOW!” Alyania was not happy. Not happy at all. In her room deep below the streets of Murder Row in Silvermoon, she began pacing the outline of a worn purple summoning circle. On little shelves around the room sat jars of oddities that would scare and disgust even the most learned mage. Grimoires left open haphazardly on tables outlined notes on enslaving demons and curses to destroy armies. Glowing green mana crystals gave off an eerie light. In this room deep below the city Alyania Raventhorne practiced the often shunned demonic warlock magic.

“BELNIK! IF I HAVE TO CALL YOU ONE MORE TIME YOU WILL LIVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN A JAR ON MY SHELF!”

Alyania’s temper was rising. She’d sent her lowest minion out to gather information about her sister and he had not returned yet. Alyania had allowed her younger sister to believe that she’d be sitting by idly waiting for this letter to soften Lexanya’s heart. She knew the effort was of no use so she tried her own special talents at finding her. All her attempts to magically find her sister had failed and failure was not something she accepted easily. Alyania’s nerves where on end and there was only one thing that could soothe her. Slowly Alyania walked the length of her circular room and stopped in front delicate golden table adorned with exotic jewels. On top of this table sat a medium glass box. Simple and unassuming but inside held a cure to calming Alyania’s nerve. She peered inside the box and smirked at the silvery blue mana worms as they floated about. Alyania licked her ruby red lips and slowly opened the lid. The mana worm she selected gave off blue hue and she stroked him playfully. She allowed the worm to circle her arm as she gently caressed him. Then without warning she slowly sucked the life out of his plump body. The worm struggled, trying to bite her hands with his sharp dagger like teeth. Alyania closed her eyes and chanted words in a demonic tongue. Slowly the worm gave up his fight as she sucked more and more mana from his body. Eventually the worm, with its life over, shriveled up into a sliver orb and fell to the hard stone floor. At this moment Alyania opened her eyes and a sadistic sort of pleasure filled her visage. Her eyes suddenly flared a bright green like that of the finest emerald. She took a deep breath and smiled.

“BELNIK!”

“Yes my mistress. I am here my mistress.” A little green demon appeared at her feet with a pop. He seemed to be enveloped in a cloud of green smoke. Belnik stood no taller than 2 feet tall. Dressed in rags and shaking terribly he stared up at Alyania with an expression of hatred. “As if you hadn’t bellowed enough,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I warn you Belnik, I can here every word that comes out your disgusting little mouth.”

“Yes mistress.” He bowed even lower, almost kissing her feet.

“Well what have you found out?”

“I followed the mage as you instructed mistress. It seems he did indeed fullfil his promise to the young one. The mage found Lexanya in the port town of BootyBay. He gave her the letter but then she vanished.”

“Vanished? You allowed her to vanish! You had better come up with some reasonable explanation and quick or you will be dinner for Wraamon.”

“Yes mistress. Yes mistress. I have more information,” he rubbed his hands together and giggled madly.

“So is she still in that god forsaken town?”

“No mistress. The mage gave her the sealed letter from the young one but she did not open it, no she did not. Instead that night she boarded a ship to Ratchet.”

“So she is in Kalimdor?”

“Yes mistress. My information last leaves her in the town of Ratchet but she hasn’t been seen there in a few days, no she has not mistress.”

“Kalimdor? What could she be doing in Kalimdor?” Alyania said this more to herself than to Belnik. With this new information Alyania hurried around her room looking through books and scrolls. Trying to find some fact she might have missed, something or anything that would explain her sister’s desire to travel to Kalimdor.

“Excuse me mistress but I might know. Yes Belnik knows somethings mistress.”

“Oh do you, you insipid little demon.” Alyania had already forgotten he was there. It was easy to do so. “Speak.”

“Belnik has heard a story mistress, yes a story. Belnik learned from another that Lexanya is having nightmares. She is in search of an answer mistress. Mistress, Lexanya is in search of a shaman to guide her to an answer.”

“Belnik, I am not amused.” Alyania raised her hand and within her palm a sudden ball of smoke appeared.

“No mistress.” Belnik begged and his eyes seemed to water. “Belnik swears mistress this is true. I hear stories mistress but Belnik does not lie to his mistress.”

Alyania played with the smoke in her hand. Eyeing Belnik with disgust she contemplated ending his life but realized it would mean yet another minion she’d have to train. She brought the smoke to her lips and gently blew the ball away. ”Belnik, I warn you now if you have lied to me I will kill you without hesitation.”

“Belnik knows this mistress.” He bowed and kissed the ground Alyania stood upon. He knew that mere ball of shadow would have ended his life. Belnik was crazy but he was no fool. Even at her young age Alyania was a powerful warlock, beyond the skill of most blood elf warlocks of The Sanctum.

“Good and do not forget that. Now Belnik I need you go to on another mission. This one is highly important and Noricissa must not find out. Do you understand?”

“Yes mistress. Belnik is eager to do your bidding.”

“Belnik find me Methios.”

The sun set slowly on the shores of Stranglethorn Vale. The statue on Janerio’s Point welcomed it, basking in its glory, with arms outstretched wide and a smile that haunts any child’s nightmare. Booty Bay, the home of pirates, thieves, and those of ill repute, seemed to come alive at dusk. Merchants hawked their wears in side streets and dark alleys. People moved about the streets some looking for adventure and others mainly looking for monetary gain. The auction house was packed with smugglers trading goods between enemy lines. A fight broke out overhead on one of the open walk ways and no one seemed to care. A few stood around and watched. Placing bets on who would win. People in this town did not seem to care about much, especially when a stranger in hooded cloak walked quietly amongst the crowd. His face barely visible behind the black hood but the eyes you could not miss. They were a deep dark black set back in shallow eye socks, haunting and eerie. He walked slightly bent over and slowly scanned the crowd as if looking for someone or something. He came to a stop looking up at the fight and shook his head. “Miscreants”, he muttered to himself and kept walking.

Finally he came upon the building he was looking for, the Salty Tavern Inn. Loud noises erupted from within laughing, talking and the sound of heavy metal mugs hitting tables. The stranger took a deep breath and walked slowly inside pulling his hood closer to his face. The air inside was stale and smelled of pipe smoke. Right at the front door the stranger noticed two dwarves with long white beards and balding heads conversing in their native tongue. They looked up at the stranger and cursed under their breath. One blew smoke from his pipe in the stranger’s direction. The other laughed and patted his comrade on the shoulder. The stranger kept walking. He had become use to this behavior, his kind was rarely welcome anywhere. Slowly he made his way up the stairs looking for an empty table. The inn was packed tonight. A large ship from Kalimdor had docked in the bay earlier and it seemed that the crew had taken up rooms here for the night. At last he found a table and sat down as he motioned for a barmaid. A slim human woman sauntered over to the table, dipping low to give the guest the best view possible of all things not necessarily on the menu. He seemed not to even notice and ordered a mug of the best ale. Looking a bit affronted she finally took a full view of the man under his hood. She gasped looking horror struck and hurried away.

He was use to this reaction. In his other life he was handsome, arrogant, and quite the ladies man. In this life he was scared and feared by all. Death had been quick and at least he could not remember the pain as some of his brethren. Known as Jonathon Miller, a human of slightly above intelligence, before his death he studied magic in Daralan. Not the quickest apprentice in his class but still capable. Then word came that his village on the outskirts of Daralan were under siege from the Scourage, he rushed to find word of his family. He did not know what to expect when he reached home and what he found destroyed him. His village was swarming with undead. People he had known all his life were either lay dead on the streets. Then he say her, his love. She lay in the town square with her eyes wide open in horror. He ran to her all the while throwing spells left and right to keep the vile undead from killing him. It wasn’t enough, they were to strong and before he could reach her they engulfed him. Then in a flash of light there was a huge explosion. A few days later mages from the Daralan came to survey the city and search for survivors. They found no one. The village a ghost town and all that was left was ashes.

“I know you are here,” the stranger said in a hushed and raspy voice. Slowly he removed the hood from his traveling cloak finally showing his face or what was left of it. The stranger was Forsaken or undead as most people like to say in not so polite conversation. There was no skin only bone. His face was shallow and what had appeared to be eyes where not eyes at all but empty black and lifeless sockets. “I bring word from the clan Lexanya.”

“There is no clan,” said a female voice from no where and before he could react a dagger was at his throat and in an instant she appeared behind him. In another life he would have fancied her, for Lexanya was beautiful. Her shoulder length hair was an auburn red and across the bridge of her nose danced small freckles. Her eyes were a very pale shade of emerald green. Unlike most of her kind, Blood Elves addicted to the arcane, they did not grow with a fierce green fire. She wore an expression not of hate but of annoyance. “Why are you hear Jonathon?”

His expression did not change even with the dagger pressed close against his throat and the use of his past name. He lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip. “If you remove the dagger from my throat old friend I shall tell you.”

“You should know me better than that Jonathon.” She continued using his real name even after death, to annoy him yes but to also make sure he held on to some semblance of humanity. “Tell me why you are here and if I like your story I will remove the blade. I warn you it’s coated with poison. So I do not have to slice you open to kill you, again.” The patrons in the inn did not come to his rescue. In fact they did not even bother to turn and look their way.

“I would expect no less from you Lexanya.” He turned his head slightly to glimpse her and what seemed to be a smile danced across his face. She stood in silence for a moment and as pressed the blade closer to his throat to prove her point. “You have not changed a bit my old friend.”

“Enough with the pleasantries! Why are you here? Make it quick. The only reason I have not killed you already is because twice would be cruel.”

He let out a sigh and the poison coated dagger scratched his neck. “Fine we shall do this your way. I do not know why you must be so hostile.”

“Flamededge!” She exclaimed in annoyance. Finally calling him by his name in death. He knew this as a sign to not play the game anymore.

“I bring word from the clan Lexanya,” he waved his hand to dismiss her from telling him yet again she would kill him. He knew she could, for he’d seen the rogue dispatch of men quickly and wipe the blood away from her dagger with a slight smile across her face. “Lexanya, we are still here. We are your friends, your family. Come back home.”

“Begging does not become you Jonathon.”

“Lexanya, hear me now. I do not beg. I simply was asked to find you. To make you see reason. There is no need for you to be out here in this,” he looked around and a sudden expression of disgust crept across his face “goblin infested place.”

“Careful Flamed, they can hear you,” she teased. “I have no intention of going back. There is no clan. He destroyed what little there was. If this is your sad pitiful story it will not be enough.” She removed the dagger from his throat and in one graceful motion brought it down against the table. The blade made no sound as it cracked the very surface of the table top; such is the skill of a rogue. She sat in the chair opposite him studying his face. Unlike most she did not see death when she looked at him but the human he once was, her friend.

“Kuro is gone.”

“What do you mean he is gone?”

“Gone. We do not know where and honestly we do not care. You know what he did to us, to you. Is it no surprised he packed up and left without a word?” He reached inside his travel cloak to pull out a letter sealed by red wax, careful to make sure his hands were always visible. “You are losing your touch Lex. I am surprised you didn’t take this from me. Here, it is for you.” With that he stood from the table. He covered his face with his hood as he looked down at her he knew that this might be the last he saw of her. It was a risk coming here to find her. That much he knew. Though death had taken away many things it had not stolen his humanity, not yet anyway. She was still his friend, even in death and one of the very few who knew him before his rebirth as Forsaken. Just as he had known her before addiction ravaged her kind. “I thank you for not killing me Lexanya.” And with that he walked away.

Lexanya’s expression did not change. She did not wish him well or make any attempt to stop him. Instead she took the letter and let her long fingers run over the emblem in the wax. If it had been from anyone else she would not have cared. Almost losing her self in thought as a memory from another time played out in her mind, Lexanya shrugged it off. She did not open the letter, just held it in her hand. She did not have to open it to know what it said. Lexanya took it from the table and placed it with care in a pouch around her belt. Her voice was barely a whisper, “the clan is no more.” And then she was gone.