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[The story begins here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2794652560]

Of Brandon Of Avarice

Elise had known that her brother was not the most honest of men. She had been one to bail him out on occaision when even the magistrate could not risk touching it. What she saw was but the surface, but the facade that he chose to show her, and even that was not pretty, even that was not the life that Lightrend should live.

***

Brandon grinned back at the young thief, his dark hair touseled and matted from sweat as he finally cracked open the lock to the door in the bank. The sounds of the night echoed around them, magnifying every step, every movement, every breath, and when that last 'click' had been heard, that malicious and almost boyish grin befell his face.

With practiced care he shifted upright, withdrawing the tools from the lock and pulling open the door to reveal a cache of gold and valuables. The pair of thieves set to in silence gathering the gold.

***


He knew they needed him, knew he was trusted and that few questions would be asked. And so Brandon was taken by Avarice, taking more from each heist for himself, whether gold, clothing or women, it mattered not. He was benefitting from the excessiveness of his lifestyle. He thought they needed him, for on the outs he still appeared to be in "good" standing, or so he still perceived.

Brandon met with the young thief, the same who had been his companion on many heists in Cutthroat Alley, anticipation for the next venture rife within him. He turned to leave but his way was blocked as she pulled a knife. His sense of power and air of superiority vanished instantly; he was unarmed, unarmored and couldn't call on his precious light to save him.

As he looked up at the woman who he'd called ally he fell to one knee and begged for his life, hands clasped, "I have money Sath, I can fix this, just let me live." She stepped nearer and he blurted out, "I will give you my sister. A life for a life!" It stopped the thief for a few moments. She knew that the sister had some semblance of worth.

His eyes were filled with greed and hope... Hope that he would life.

Her arm jut upwerds in a singular fluid motion, and Brandon Lightrend was no more, his body crumpling to the ground.

***


Of Elise Of Hubris

Elise was restless following the knighting ceremony and trials. She had spoken to both Taelanas and Ulthryn about how she felt, having apologized to the latter, so why WHY did she still have that knotted feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She had reason to be happy, several of them in fact.

She followed Sathrasa's finger to the gravestone, worn by weather and reading, "Brandon Lightrend." In solemn silence she approached it, kneeling before it.

It was with this feeling of jealousy of false pride that she penned a simple letter to Sathrasa, bearing the words which called for a meeting.

Anxiously she awaited a return or the chance to see her on the street.

She received the letter finally bearing the words, "Twilight grove."

And so, Elise set out, to Duskwood, to test her pride.

She landed in the gloom filled region, longing for the cleansing rains of the north.

Upon landing in the grove, Elise felt it well up in her, that feeling of pride, of knowing that she had been wronged in some way. She spotted a figure in the distance and burst into a run to cross the ground between them. It was her, the one who tormented her: Sathrasa.

The words that were exchanged were not the harsh words of victims, but those of one explaining what another did not know.

***


" I disembodied him after that; taking his limbs and tearing them away, removing the skin and bone from one another. Though even through that, I still gave him little enough respect to bury the remains. Though I never truly let him rest."

Elisienne 's face paled, "Still to this day?"

Sathrasa nods "One of our allies was a shadowcaster for hire; a spiritseeker to the people, a demonologist to us. I paid him my cut of the last four heists for him to rip your brother's soul and force it to remain in Azeroth, where it walks his own grave. He offered you up without even thinking it was wrong. He saw my hesitation as consideration for his offer, so he continued. He said how you skill could best that of some of our best "showgirls", a perfect obedient slave"


"Where?"

" The soul is tethered to the grave; should he ever try to leave it, the agony of his death and quartering flashes through his soul. The grave was in Gilneas, just near the wall, however with the recent attack from the Forsaken, I'm unsure if it's intact."

"If you'd like, however, I can lead you to exactly where it is."

"Yes.Take me there now."

Sathrasa smirks a little under her mask "You realize you'll be trusting me here. Hopefully you understand what that means." She motions and calls down a gryphon "Get moving."

***

Elise shifted her weight from one foot to the other, attempting to regain her bearings as they were no longer within the Twilight Grove of Duskwood, but standing before the fallen wall of Graymane. Before them to the right stood a pair of trees, to her right Sathrasa.

Sathrasa tosses aside a now cracked and broken crystal "Be glad I felt like using one of those. They're not easy to make, portal gems."

Elisienne loooked up at the rain, her face filled with light for a moment as she drank in the weather of the north.

Sathrasa points forward to the pair of trees; at the base of the large trunk was a handcarved stone and a rather old patch of dirt. The stone read "Brandon Lightrend.". Something wispy and ethereal seemed to smoke along the earth...

Elisienne approached in solemn silence, kneeling before it.-

Sathrasa observed the grave in mild interest, reliving the old memory. The wispy substance rolling along the dirt strolled closer to the edge, recognizing the two women before recoiling in silent agony, unable to pass the earthen limits that was its grave.

Elisienne inhaled sharply, her gaze snapping back at Sathrasa, "Have you a shovel?"

"No. "

Elisienne cursed beneath her breath and pulled a sword off her shield, in an attempt to start digging.

Sathrasa shakes her head in pity, looking off to the cliffside at the right of them "If I had agreed, twelve years from that day you would've been kneeling here before me, a leash at your neck and a subservient smile on your lips."

"Why give him mercy, Elise? Why give mercy to a creature that showed you neither love nor thought?

Elisienne glared back at her as she continued to dig, recoiling as she found bones and the last vestiges of what his remains was buried in.

Sathrasa glanced to the badly decomposed remains; barely anything was left, save for a few bones and the skull.

Elisienne stood slowly, "Because I am a better person Sathrasa, We were both raised in the Light, he took to the darkness and abused the Light."

Elisienne shook her head, "But he will know rest..."

" Rest to the hateful, traitorous and decieftful is both unreasonable and illogical. He deserves to remain there, writhing in his agony, just as I deserve the same fate in my death. I doubt I'll have rest after what I've done, hm?"

Sathrasa smirks slyly at you, "People like me and him do not deserve kindness, love, honor, rest or forgiveness. We're cold, resonable and logical; emotion is second to us, a tool we use to manipulate our world. A weapon.Mercy, to us, is death, and it is mercy that we will not recieve, even when we ask for it. "

Elisienne spoke as tears came unbidden to her cheeks, "Do you remember that day on the docks when I set to return to the Northlands?" Her voice was a whisper and she seemed to not hear Sathrasa's words her attention elsewhere.

Sathrasa flicks her gaze to the grave again, raising a brow.

Elisienne drew forth her torch and set it upon the remains, reciting, "Through the flames we are blessed, through the flames we find peace, the fire cleanses what man cannot. Its smoke guides us to our resting place. Know peace brother Brandon, for your spirit may now find peace."

Sathrasa glances up at the rain, then to the torch "Might need a better flame, girl."

Elisienne 's flame burned in spite of the rain.

Sathrasa looks to the grave and grips Elise, forcing her back a few steps from the grave; the wispy substance was standing now, hands reaching for the woman, roaring in agony and hatred, its arms ethereal claws.

"It may not be your ways of passing on, burial, but however a creature is buried, disturbing its rest is never, ever a good idea. Even if its your family."

Elisienne tried to hold back, and dropped her torch upon the grave, being pulled back by Sathrasa, "For our fathers, and those before them."

"The only disturbance is burying the bodies instead of letting the flames take them."

Sathrasa looks to the slowly burning grave, the spirit gripping and warping itself before fading away into the wind, tendrils of what was once a sentient essence vanishing as the bones turned to grey ash, spattered with the rain.

" To each their own. "

Sathrasa releases the paladin, eyes on the grave with curiosity.

Elisienne fell to her knees at the name, "He's gone."

Sathrasa looks to the now doused grave, then to where the spirit passed off, frowning under her mask "I don't understand you people and your emotions... he didn't care what happened to you, even offered you as a slave, yet still you give him mercy."

" It confuses me."

Elisienne wiped her tears and stood slowly, "I don't ask you to understand, but our business is done."

***
And through all of it.. none would call her Ellie....