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Legacy of Ruin, Chapter 4: Total Annihilation (P2)

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Elduin stared back into the eyes of the Sea Giant. Even in the darkness of the cove, the creature's eyes shone bright. Elduin felt his heart pounding in his throat. Even though he was confident in his abilities, this was going to be a hard fight, and his allies' capabilities were doubtful at best.

I have to make this right Elduin thought, gripping his staff more tightly. I may not get another chance at winning their trust.

"You return" the Giant said slowly. He made the grunting noise from before which Elduin now recognized as a laugh. "Druid not wise. This time you no escape."

Elduin's eyes pierced the darkness as easily as they did the light, and he saw humongous arms being drawn back and thrown forward again. Elduin heard a great rumbling sound. Moments later, a huge wave spilled into the cave from behind the Giant, filling it with water from top to bottom. Elduin wasted not a moment: he jumped out of the water, quickly transforming into his storm crow form. Even though he flew as fast as he could, he could feel the wave behind him drawing closer even as he passed the corner, the water threatening to overcome and swallow him. Small droplets already rained down on his wings, making them heavier and making it difficult to fly. He had to act, or he wasn't going to make it. Elduin manipulated the wind and began to spiral as he caught his own body in a cyclone that blew him to the exit, giving him the edge of speed he needed.

The wave overcame the tiny beach outside the intrance as he flew out, quickly pulling himself to a safer altitude. The sea was still stirring violently when the sea giant emerged from the opening, stopping to spot Elduin. In his hand a huge sword with an anchor-like edge was clenched, and he raised it to the sky as he shouted.

"You came back to run away?"

If Elduin could have snickered in this form, he would have. He didn't wait for whatever the giant was going to do. From his feathers thousands of minuscule sparkles of vibrant violent light flew, the magic cloud quickly expanding in size as it was carried towards the giant, who cried out in surprise as he was engulfed by the magic. The particles were too small to tell, but the light was created by countless fairies, whose touch made the tough giant's scales as soft as pudding. His screams of anger were quickly drowned out by another sound. The rumbling of the human's cannons was like music to Elduin's ears. The sea giant roared as several cannonballs smashed into him. His blood coloured the water around him red.

The giant wobbled in the water as though he was going to fall. That hope was crushed when he, screaming in anger, regained his balance. The wounded giant's eyes found the source of his pain: a human frigate floating in the waters to his right. Elduin was forgotten as he charged towards the easier target. Musket and pistol shots blasted into his faerie-tainted skin, but it did little to slow him down.

Leaving the beach, the behemoth dove with a surprising elegance for a creature his size. On board the ship men screamed in panic as the vessel began to rock back and forth on the violent waves he created.

Screaming out his vengeance, the sea giant dove up in front of the boat, easily keeping himself afloat. His blood still spilled into the sea, but his injuries seemed to anger him more than anything. The giant lifted the anchor-like blade up and then brought down on the frigate with terrible force. Men screamed as part of the mast was snapped and crashed down on the deck. The giant blade continued its way down and pushed the ship deeper down into the water as it came to a stop, but it dealt no further damage. Something was stopping the sword.

"Come on, push harder, you big sack of shit" Jeredan taunted the sea giant as he pushed his sword up behind his back, his armoured arm providing extra support. The sea giant grumbled incomprehensibly in his own tongue, unable to cope with the fact this human was withstanding his strength. With a garbled cry he pulled back his sword, trying to use the anchor-like edge to decapitate the crusader. The two blades screeched against each other with a sound that was painful to the ears, but Jeredan merely scoffed and ducked under the weapon. Crying out, he jumped up again immediately and swung his blade up in an arc, hitting the giant sword from below and forcing it up. The sea giant roared again, drawing his sword back to his side for a horizontal swing which he hoped would knock the armoured crusader off board and to his death. It never came.

Elduin landed on the giant's face in his night elf form, driving his staff down on the sea giant's head and hitting him right in between the eyes. A purple sphere exploded outward from the staff, hitting the giant at point blank range. It wasn't enough to finish him, but it sent him staggering backwards away from the ship.

"Fire!" Elduin made Llorrin's voice out between the sea giant's angry roars, and it hit him how young he still sounded. The cannons and guns spoke again. Elduin swung himself around and slipped down, holding on to the giant's hair and using his head for cover as he felt the creature's body shake and convulse beneath his feet. All life abandoned the giant. It was done. The faerie fire disappeared from the dead body like snow for the sun as the giant began to topple backwards. Elduin used him as leverage even as some final spasms went through the corpse. He pushed himself off and sailed elegantly through the air towards the frigate's deck as the sea reclaimed the giant's body, the resulting wave lifting the ship briefly. The druid bent through his knees as he landed, and felt himself surrounded by shouting, armed men. For a moment he felt threatened, but then he realized the marines were cheering for him. It evoked a smile from the druid, be it a brief one. The blue-eyed lad who was in command was shining with pride as he pushed through his men to greet him.

"You fought amazingly well, Elduin" the marine complimented him, smoke emitting from the barrels of his pistols.

Elduin got up. "I can tell you haven't seen the Kaldorei fight before. This was nothing."

"I could've handled him myself" Jeredan boasted.

They made haste to free the prisoners. Elduin had been relieved to find them alive. He'd feared the wave the sea giant had attacked him with would have flooded the side corridor and killed the men. Ironically enough, the giant's solid grasp on hydromancy had played to their advantage, for he'd managed to keep the wave well away from them. With the help of a rope and his transforming abilities they were able to help the weakened men down one by one. He'd rarely listened to a tale more erratic and chaotic, but from what Elduin could piece together the giant had apparently kept them alive to try and find out if there were more ships around.

He could only hope the sea giant had been typically territorial and not serving some other purpose. They had enough enemies as it was. The former prisoners were quickly sent below decks to recuperate as the ship began to make its way back to Adane's hold. Elduin could only imagine what the prisoners had had to survive on while trapped in the cave, so it came as no surprise that he had never seen men more elated at the thought of food. The damage to the main mast was bad and severely limited their speed, but the wind was in their favour, and though Elduin knew little of sailing, he could tell these men were highly experienced at sea and would get them back to the shore.

Days later, at nightfall, Elduin stood looking out over the bow of the ship, with mixed feelings. When he'd heard they were close to the shore and the rest of the navy, he'd been too curious to wait, and had gone to scout ahead. Part of him was glad at least not all of them were dead, but the other part of him was dissapointed in the state the fleet was in. He doubted there would be enough marines to pose a serious threat to the orcs.

Elduin had gained some of the men's trust, but he still kept his eyes peeled. His ears picked up more than some of these humans realized. Even now, he could hear their whispers below decks, like knives being sharpened in the dark. The night was one of the few times when he felt somewhat at ease. It allowed him to be alone. Well, perhaps not quite alone. The boy, Llorrin was his name, had approached softly, and now walked up beside him.

"Many of the men are singing your praises, druid" he addressed the druid, walking up beside him. Elduin could tell his scarred visage still made the marine uncomfortable.

"Many, but not all?" Elduin asked rhetorically. The tall warrior who had fought off the sea giant was one of the reasons he guarded his back at all times. Llorrin stared at his feet.

"I know. No need to tell them out" Elduin entrusted him. As Llorrin's eyes found his again he could tell he wasn't completely convinced of his trustworthiness yet.

He wants to believe me, but he doesn't want to lose his men by vouching for me either Elduin realized, finding sympathy for the lad within himself.  

"I will need to know more about your people, druid. You praised them for their skill in battle, and you move unlike any other warrior we've ever seen before. Why seek out the remnants of a defeated army?"

Elduin perked an eyebrow at that notion, which he simply couldn't accept. The one moment the boy seemed to be radiating with life, but sometimes, especially at night, he appeared full of despair.

"A defeated army? You haven't told me of any defeats you've suffered. How could an  army that has not yet gone to war have been defeated?" he spoke strictly, spotting the shame his words caused on the young officer's face.

"To answer your question," Elduin continued, "We are currently near the south-eastern part of Kalimdor, the land of Tanaris. Central Kalimdor is where you will find the orcs. My people live in the North."

"So we have them in an iron grip then" Llorrin said sarcastically. Every mention of his deceased admiral clearly pained the lad.

"My people still stand strong and fight the orcs-" Elduin began.

"Then why are you here?" Llorrin interrupted.

"- but we also have other enemies." It was difficult to keep anything hidden from the lad, Elduin realized. Only the full truth, something he'd been unwilling to part with at first, would gain him his trust.

"I've touched upon this subject before, but I may not have explained it well enough. I am a renegade: I abandoned the ancient ways of my people for their own good. Too few would follow me, so me and my followers quickly became doomed, hunted by orcs and allies alike."

Llorrin seemed to find the idea of abandoning one's people absolutely abhorrent.

"What convinced you to do that?"

Elduin sighed. There was too much wisdom behind those piercing eyes to be fooled by a lie, but he didn't think the lad would like the truth either. Nevertheless, he had no other choice.

"I wasn't always a renegade. When High Priestess Tyrande and Shan'do Stormrage awakened me and my brethren, the Druids of the Talon, to fight against the Burning Legion, we flocked to their cause. I stood alongside your people as well as the Horde at the battle of Mount Hyal, though I always kept a wary eye on the orcs. They killed our demi-god, Cenarius, and they also struck down far too many ancients to ever be forgiven."

Llorrin's frown ran deep. The fatigue was getting to him.

"Get to the point. You said you witnessed that Lordaeron was completely lost. When did that happen? When did you go there?"

So he has a keen memory, too. There may be more to humans than I first thought.

"That, is a long story…" Elduin began, "… but not an unimportant one" he quickly added when he saw the impatience behind Llorrin's eyes.

"One of the heroes of our first victory over the Legion, Illidan Stormrage, followed the same path I did. You could say he served as an… inspiration… He consumed the Legion's own energies-"

"Demonic energies, you mean" Llorrin said, frowning.

"In time, you may find power is merely power, young one. Good or evil depends not on the nature of the magic, but the wielder's intent."

"Hm" Llorrin said, still sounding unconvinced, though he probably knew too little about magic to continue this discussion.

"He used this magic to slay Tichondrius, one of the main engineers of the Scourge, and even almost managed to shatter the Frozen Throne and destroy the undead."

For a moment, hope returned in Llorrin's eyes.

"Did he succeed?"

"No. Unfortunately, the grudges some of our people carried against Illidan caused Shan'do Stormrage and Priestess Tyrande's presence there. I was part of the force that tracked Illidan, and unfortunately, we unwittingly stopped his spell, thinking it was malignant in nature."

Llorrin sighed and shook his head at the sky, muttering a curse. The hope was gone again.

"Still, the power I witnessed that day… It was capable of tearing apart worlds! Imagine what we could do to the orcs if we were to wield such magic…!" Elduin exclaimed, but he quickly noticed he was alienating the human.

"The power to tear apart worlds…" Llorrin repeated softly, looking out over the waves, waves that were calm now, but had threatened to swallow him mere weeks ago.

"I don't think-" he started, apparently in pain just from expressing the thought.

"I'm not asking you to walk upon the same path I have, young one" Elduin quickly said, raising a hand.

"I want you to understand how it is that I fell from grace with my people. In some ways – many ways -, Illidan, too, had his flaws. It could be said he wasted his talents to some degree. But in the hands of the right person, all power can be used for good…"

Llorrin sighed and turned towards him.

"I'm going to have to believe you, Elduin, and I will try to convince my captain of your tale, but here's a tip: keep your demonic nature to yourself. Once the men find out a demonic army was behind the destruction of Lordaeron, I'm certain many of them won't care that you've helped us out if you reveal you've consumed similar energies."

"I know, I know" Elduin acknowledged, nodding. It wasn't too hard to imagine some of the humans in the fleet had gone completely insane over the course of their arduous journey and would no longer be able to even tell black from white.
Part 2.

To read on: teano.deviantart.com/art/Falle...

Gallery: teano.deviantart.com/gallery/3...

Summary: With Elduin's help, the sea giant is defeated and the captive marines freed. Elduin reveals his past to Llorrin and agrees to try and convince his captain that Daelin has died and they are required to return to keep Tiragarde.
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Pedigri's avatar
"This time you no escape" - there's a " missing at the end of the sentence.

A human cannon is a circus attraction - a cannon that shoots out people:) I see that in the WoWWiki there are cannons called human cannons, but I wouldn't be so true to the source material in this case, because it will sound silly to thise who don't know that "human cannons" are normal cannons in Warcraft.

The sudden change to passive voice ("the sword was lifted up") sounds strange. What's wrong with saying that he lifted the sword up and then brought it down on..."?

So... Jeredan's arm is armored according to this chapter, but the upper part isn't armored, because Llorrin could see the scars on his upper arms. That means that he only had armor on his forearm. Is that right?
If the surface of this armor was smooth (had no spikes or something like that) the sword could easily slip off its surface and injure the upper part of the arm.

I'd suggest you write "dissappeared from the dead body like snow for the sun". Right now it sounds like "snow for the sun from the dead body" (does snow on a dead, cold body melt faster that on the ground when exposed to the sun?).

Solid grasp on hydromancy sounds nice.

Uh... locked? The prisoners weren't locked. Perhaps trapped would work better? Or imprisoned?

I meant to write about this earlier, but you used a weird narration here. It almost seems like you combined first person perspective and third person perspective, where the observer has the same personality as the person he observes and that speaks in first person. Or... as if the same person switched between first and third person perspective. Or... as if the third person narrator imitated certain speech habits and personality traits of the person that currently speaks from her own perspective (Elduin uses "boy" a lot, so the third person narrator now abuses the word).
Creative writing books advised against switching viewpoint characters midsentence/midparagraph, but I don't remember if it also applied to chaning viewpoint characters midchapter. Maybe not. Either way, I've never seen anything like that before.