Addiction

[Zuffid]

The satyr roared fiercely and charged in on the blood knight, delivering a quick kick to his chest and knocking the wind out of him. The paladin took a step back before lurching forward with his spear, and punching a hole through the demon’s chest. It fell to the ground lifeless, as three more satyrs ran in from behind it. The three assaulted the lone paladin viciously, tearing into his armor with their sharp claws and knocking his spear away.

The paladin was surely done for, the rogue thought to herself. Now was the perfect chance.

Suddenly, as the paladin continued to fight for his very life, a night elven rogue appeared out of the shadows and sunk her dagger deep into the paladin’s back. A twisted grin spread across her face as her daggers sunk into the flesh of the losing paladin repeatedly, but suddenly she found herself striking an invincible barrier. A confused expression came over her as she was unable to attack the healing paladin. However, after realizing what he did she took the chance to spit on him a few times.

The paladin cast a spell of immense holy wrath around him as his bubble faded, and it dropped the demons to the ground. The paladin quickly turned to face the rogue, who suddenly sliced one of her daggers through his eyes. The rogue spun around behind him and slugged him in the kidneys, and began to continue slicing away at him through his armor. As the paladin recovered from his stupor, he quickly turned and hammered the rogue desperately, only to discover his mana supplies were drained.

Only having a moment to act, the paladin quickly consumed one of the demonic runes a nearby satyr had dropped and used the mana to return his life. The rogue was dumbfounded for the rest of her very short life as the paladin used his newfound mana to spin around and slice a deep wound into her chest with his spear, then bring it back around and impale her on the top of his weapon.

The paladin dropped to one knee, letting his spear (with rogue atop it) hit the ground roughly. He quickly bandaged any wounds still bleeding, and panted desperately for breath. However, his panting didn’t come from his near-death. He had consumed his fifth demonic rune in one day, and the rush of mana at the cost of his personal health was more invigorating than anything he’d ever felt.

“Zuffid, remember, for each one of these you take, I will be more and more disappointed in you.” was what she had told him. The guilt overwhelmed him, but at the same time they gave him the power he needed to destroy any that would face him. They fed his mana addiction, and made him stronger… in a sense. His body was becoming more frail than ever from abusing the runes. He seemed more sickly and skinny than ever before.

“I… I’m -just- using them to survive. That’s right… I’m not using them for pleasure at all.” Zuffid mused aloud to himself, but as another demon charged in on him he quickly hammered it and consumed another rune, then used the mana to pump more of the Light into the beast than the last three he’d fought put together.

The rush of mana, and the power is gave him was getting the best of him. He’d already tried speaking to all of his superior Blood Knights, but they all either encouraged it or didn’t seem to truly care. Zuffid knew that abusing demonic runes to increase his combat efficiency was wrong, but he couldn’t control himself.

He’d tried to excuse the fact that the rush made his life worth living… that he didn’t have a choice. However, as much as it fed his mana addiction and satisfied him, as well as increasing his power, he sort of knew why he really relied on them.

A sense of hopelessness had fallen over him after finding that the lost love he had been waiting to see again for over 5 years was dead. He fell to mana addiction and tapping his power to purge the world of demons and undead to escape his misery.

Though the thought echoed in the back of his mind… “How long can I keep this up?”

(( Working this as a possible plot to make Zuffid a more interesting character. Feedback would be awesome! ))

[Solenev]

((Demonic Runes... oh yes I didn't even think about how the Blood Elves could get addicted to the mana rush from the demonic energy. Great start. I like that Zuffid's getting a darker side. Keep it up.))

[Lovely]

((Had some great RP with Zuff earlier today about this. Great story and good idea!))

[Jobolg]

((Ahh, I like. He should talk to Jobolg (or any of those -other- clearly inferior warlocks, I suppose...) about this stuff. Jobolg blasts away, taps himself for mana, then pimp slaps something and takes the health back from it. He could tell him about the finer points.))

[Sinthe]

(( Very nifty. Definately enjoyed this one, I'd like to see some more. ))

[Evanthe]

((Ahh, I like. He should talk to Jobolg (or any of those -other- clearly inferior warlocks, I suppose...) about this stuff. Jobolg blasts away, taps himself for mana, then pimp slaps something and takes the health back from it. He could tell him about the finer points.))

[Hmph! Anywho- this is one of the reasons I wanted to play a blood elf warlock- the lifetap skill is just too perfect. On the subject of the story, I loved it.]

[Zuffid]

He had been gifted the title of Blood Knight Master, and yet his mood continued to get increasingly worse as the days passed. He frequently found himself wandering the forests of Felwood, tempted to stop and kill the demons for more of the runes that fed his addiction so.

Other times he’d managed to resist the temptation to even step into Felwood, but found himself wandering the nearby forests of Ashenvale and Darkshore just to be nearby. On one such occasion, on a particularly miserable day, he did something he would not soon forgive himself for…

“Vohl! Bur uden vohl!” The night elven child called out to what appeared to be her mother, and skipped over to her eagerly. The mother was tending to a bed of flowers, but turned happily to hug the child. A taller, male elf stepped out of the nearby shack and called out himself. He calmly walked over, a genuine smile on his face.

Behind a nearby tree, concealed within the bushes, Zuffid crouched quietly. He watched the scene unfolding in front of him, a few tears dripping from his eyes. His sorrow was only overshadowed by envy as he continued to spy on them.

The elven man and woman met with each other, and hugged contently as what one would guess as the two’s daughter began to tend to the flower bed herself. Zuffid’s eyes snapped open behind the tree as the man and woman locked lips and kissed one another happily. Zuffid’s envy and sorrow was suddenly crushed by an overwhelming sense of rage, and his hands began to glow with holy retribution as he reached for his sword.

“Lars ude-- GURK!” was all the elven male had time to say before the large sword came bursting out his chest from behind. The woman stepped back in horror as she realized her what had become of her husband. The blood elf behind the man jerked and twisted his sword grotesquely before ripping it up and out of the elf’s form, sending him collapsing to the ground in a heap. The child turned to look at the scene unfolding before her, but was quickly met with a sharp burst of commanding holy force. She was knocked back and fell to the ground, burnt in light and lifeless.

The woman seemed even more horrified at the sight of the child falling, but she didn’t have the time for the heartache of seeing the two night elves around her slain as Zuffid dropped his sword and brought both hands to her neck. The heavy gauntlets on his hands alone choked her as he pushed her up against the nearby tree and held her there. His hands were tight around her neck as his stare pierced into her eyes. Zuffid’s stare was fiery with rage and at the same time had icy cold, merciless expression.

The woman squirmed hopelessly to try and escape as the blood elf before her held her still. Several tears were falling from her eyes as the blood elf held her tightly by the neck, and just as she thought herself finished Zuffid did something most unexpected. Several tears began to stream from his eyes, and he pressed his lips forward to kiss the unwilling woman. She was in shock, tears still falling from her eyes, though the blood elf seemed quite passionate in his gesture to her.

After a long moment, he pulled himself away and released her neck from his tight grip. She slid down the tree, falling to her knees, gasping for breath. Zuffid took a step back and looked down at her, wiping the last few tears from his eyes before his stare became one of rage once more. As the woman panted for breath, staring at the ground, Zuffid brought his foot upwards and kicked her fiercely in the face. Blood shot out of her nose as her head went up, then promptly she fell to the ground.

Zuffid kneeled down before the unconscious elf and took her pulse to ensure she was alive before he stood, taking his sword and returning it to his back. He summoned his Charger and looked down at the bloody mess before him. The woman was out cold, the man and child both dead. His gaze became emotionless as he spoke, knowing the woman wouldn’t understand him even if she was awake. “Perhaps now, woman, you will understand a shred of my pain.” was all he said before riding off into the night.

Over the next week, the guilt ate away at him. He’d used his powers of holy retribution, and that of the light to commit a horrible crime. He’d slain the helpless, the innocent… which he had sworn to himself he would protect. He swore to uphold justice as best he could, yet his sorrow for himself had been so deep he felt the right thing to do was to spread his pain to an innocent family.

After a long period of thought, he decided the only safe thing to do would be to suppress all of his future emotions. His loves, sorrows, pains. He would hide it, and keep it from surfacing. That was the safest way to keep those around him safe.

In addition, he disenchanted his sword into dust and moved away from his specialty of retribution. He took up the ways of healing, to further ensure he would keep his brethren safe.

Only a few hours after his decision, a suppressed Zuffid summoned his Charger and set out to continue his training in the ways of the light, the demonic runes still at his side in a small pack.