Tanthelara’s heart beseeched the Light for its aid, and from the heavens crashed a mighty pillar of fire to purge the wickedness from the foe -a hailstone elemental- that stood meters away from her. As the holy flames crackled and seared the construct, her mind reached out to the void. Within moments, the void responded with thin tendrils of darkness which swirled around and shielded her from her enemy’s icy fury. She felt herself become energized with the pain the elemental was suffering as its evil was being expunged from this realm, and focused a blast of dark energy onto it. With a thunderous crack, the elemental shattered like glass and released its frigid essence to the wind, falling into a heap of rubble.
Quickly, she withdrew a scrap of parchment and small slab of charcoal from her robes and traced the glyphs of animation that were etched into the elemental’s surface. With this, she would study the glyph’s form and deconstruct the lines which made it, learning how they manipulated and controlled the mystical energies which gave the elemental its “life”. Such had always been her calling in life, it seemed, even from her childhood where she would inscribe various arcane symbols on whatever inanimate object was nearby and study its effects. The cold wind, the tracing of glyphs, it all hearkened back to her early days as healer and combat medic in Northrend during the Horde’s campaign against Arthas and filled her with nostalgia.
That happiness soon turned to sorrow, however, as she remembered that horrible twist fate would have in store for her on those icy plains. Her heart sank as she rolled the tracing up and slipped it securely in her belt. It was all too familiar now - the heartache and sorrow of loss, the feeling of abandonment and solitude, like a ship cast upon the sea without rudder or sail. In this sorrow, she longed for the days of years past, before Zandalar or Northrend, or even the Horde - days when she and her beloved Fahr were both young priests. Before he took his vows to become a Blood Knight, and before she was so desperate as to turn to the void for power.
Tanthelara sat on a piece of the defeated elemental and withdrew a small glowing blue pial - a potion, brewed by the alchemists in Dazar’alor, made to quench the unnatural thirst wrought from magic usage. She downed half of its contents and replaced the stopper, the effervescent liquid leaving its unique tart-but-sweet aftertaste in her mouth. Mana potions were fairly similar wherever you went in Azeroth and beyond, with their own unique flair thrown in. She could feel the tropical heat and jungle shade of Zul’dazar in this one, just like the desert warmth and cool nights of the ones brewed in Orgrimmar, or the floral notes and autumn evenings of the ones from Silvermoon.
…or the clawing, icy air and camphorous woods of Northrend. Her mind kept going back to that fateful day when her knight fell. Or rather, to that moment she received word of his death. She was tending to some of the wounded at the Argent Vanguard in Icecrown’s Valley of Echoes that day. There were a handful of ice elementals harassing the camp and with all available troops coordinating the assault on the Citadel, there was a scant few left to guard the area. That was how she learned to wield the Light offensively - from necessity. She channeled her faith in the Light against the dangers assaulting the outpost, searing them with holy energies, holding them at bay while troops were recalled to reinforce the outpost. She recalled the intensity with which the Light flowed through her, and how abruptly it vanished from her when her heart faltered the moment she learned of the fate the detachment of Blood Knights suffered at the hands of the Scourge.
Her hands beginning to quake, she wiped the tear that was welling in the corner of her eye. She never got to say goodbye to him. The soldiers of the Argent Crusade offered her their condolences of course, as did a scant few others from the Horde and Alliance both, but it wasn’t enough. His only remains that were recovered were his shattered ranseur and bloodstained helm. Even more jarring was the void left by the Light’s abandonment. She remembered the primal terror that took hold in tandem with the sorrow of loss, as she feared the Shadow would consume her in the Light’s absence.
Then, just like now, she was utterly alone. And yet, she was so much more than what she once was. The Light would never again choose her as its vessel as it once did, but she could still entreat its power. The Void could never consume her without her willingness to allow it, either. Of course, there was a third part that she kept secret at all costs…
A wave of tranquility washed over her as she withdrew the tracing she had made of the hailstone elemental’s glyphs. With a flick of her wrist she popped open the small leather satchel she kept on her hip and pulled out a pen - glass and iron, adorned with blood-red rubies and filled with a deep crimson substance. Blood magic was universally condemned - nearly as much as necromancy - but far less prevalent. Within her pen contained the blood of the fallen, the souls she failed to save and foes brought low before her alike. Holding it gently in her hand and with the motions of a maestro conducting a symphony, she traced into the air the lines of the glyph, the motions causing droplets of red to splatter on the ground below. Dull red light shined from each droplet as they soaked into the soil. Moments later, a grisly claw of earth and roots erupted from the ground and pulled up the loathsome body it was attached to. Using her thumb, she released the vacuum on her pen’s reservoir, willing the fluid to her newly-summoned champion and covering it with it. Red light radiated from within the construct and it turned towards her.
“The contract has been signed” it said in a low, raspy voice that was like steel against river rock.
((apologies for being long in the tooth on this one! Was aiming to explain not only her origins and the fate of Fahr, but her journey from traditional “holy” priest to shadow and then to discipline as well as her inscription profession. There was a lot to cover, so hopefully it all makes sense and flows well together without being overwhelming, and as always THANKS FOR READING!!))