Kailei had been directed to lead soldiers, to mend allies, to travel to uncharted lands in name of the Horde. But she had to admit Ashenfury's request was an oddity, but she didn't really understand the way of shaman rituals.
Either way it was not a hard task that he had given her. She was to gather a bunch of her writing, musings, and such. There was plenty of that in the years and years of her journals she kept at her home in Ratchet.
So mounting her dark phoenix and slinging her sword and shield on her back, she headed for Ratchet, upon her arrival she'd open one of the many crates she stored here. Book after book of her writing lay inside of this journal. It brought a smile to her lips to look at them all. Some she had written when she was but a child. But she was looking for her most recent ones.
The first journal that she tore pages out of, were the pages of her worrying about her battleground strategies...the ones where she was new to the Pillagers and Siegebreakers. The musings of her fear, of her excitement, of her worry for her friends on the battlefield. Ashenfury would have those for his ritual.
The other pages she would gladly give to him, were the pages detailing the week of her quarantine. Her fear at dying, the tear soaked pages from the days she lost delirious with fever. She didn't really care to read those pages EVER again. Her mistake in trusting a man outside of the Grim which almost lead to her death.
"I do not know what you are up to Ash...but I hope this is what you need." She stood up tucking the stacks of pages into her bag. The rest of her journals would be opened at a later time in her life...she would not read them again until she grew old and laid down her weapons. She made sure that the crate was sealed tightly before leaving and securing her house again.
As she mounted the dark phoenix again she activated her stone. "High Inquisitor Ashenfury, I have the requested pages...where do I bring them?"
Shamanic Rites (The War of the Nether)
Re: Shamanic Rites (The War of the Nether)
-First and foremost, is always, for the Horde.
Re: Shamanic Rites (The War of the Nether)
Ashenfury stood at the summit of the Mountain of Dormant Flame looking outward to the sunset. It was the very spot that he had forced every supplicant to jump from. His face was covered by a leather wolf mask crudely sewn into his cloak of divinity. The vibrant feathers that Ryanica had hunted for had their quills stabbed through the crudely tanned leather of the cloaks shoulders. In a circle around the center of the plateua were the painted skulls from his weapon rack. Each one had countless parchments shoved into the eyes sockets and a candle made of peon's wax burning before them.
In his right hand was the ceremonial axe. It's blade refracted the orange sunset over the barrens. He turned and looked at a caged and very agitated rooster that was opening it's wings in revolt. He chopped his axe into the ground to put it within reach while he stooped over the cage and pulled out the rooster with both hands holding the breast. The rooster pecked at the chapped hands. The Orc began to chant...
As he did so Awatu began to beat his drum rhythmically. Boom.dun.dun.dun Boom.dun.dun.dun. Ashenfury hunched over and slowly began to move to the beat of the drum. Boom.dun.dun.dun.
His voice started as a low grumble and he accentuated what sounded like the end of a sentence by shaking the rooster. The bird looked angry but Ashen continued until the bird was fighting furiously in a desperate attempt to attack it's captor. At the height of the frenzy Ashenfury smashed the bird down into the ground with an audible thud. The leg twitched so the orc bashed it again. The moment he bashed it the second time the tiny flames of the candle wicks boomed into the gasping flame of bonfires dancing to the drumming as it grew into hollow thundering BOoOM-DUN-DUN-DUN. The fire jerked spastically to the deafening rhythm.
Ashenfury looked at one of the skulls and waited while hunched over... the runes painted along each skull began to glow a soft red. Upon sighting the change he went to work quickly. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The parchments within the skull sockets began to curl and catch fire on their outer most edges.
Ashenfury hunched over as if he had taken a gut wrenching blow to his stomach. His shoulders shuddered. It appeared the Orc was coughing... or laughing. He took a deep breath and shuddered as a fiery blue but oddly transparent topknot jutted out from his cloak. The blue jerks again and it's the face of Ashenfury. The spirit looked strangely young but it was definitely Ashenfury. The mouth of the spirit opened wide and the face looked skyward as the cloaked shoulders who's feathers looked like spaulders continued to lift. The spirit was roaring it's most beastial roar in silence. As the waist passed you could see that the Orc spirit was stark naked and in his right hand was the same battle axe. It burned a different hue than the rest of the Orc's body in that it was yellow and much less transparent. It did not give off the shimmer of life.
It appeared as if his very soul was being forced from the shell that was the Orc known as Ashenfury. The spirit continued it's silent struggle to free itself from the body. The spirit lifted it's knees as if climbing a great steepness and as it took it's last step away from the hunched body the spirit cackled looking upwards and grew twice it's size before disappearing into the sky.
Before the body collapsed an observant eye could see the very thread that held the spirit to the body stretched thin. Huge white glimmering stitching appeared that ran along the orc's sides that outlined the body. The thread and stitching grew taught and snapped as the body finally collapsed making it look strangely inanimate. The thread's glimmer faded and nothing was left but the dead orc. The low burning candles were just a pool of used wax. Awatu stopped drumming and stood up. The ceremony was nearly complete.
Bryii steps forward from the path leading to the summit and reads the chant. The skull's glow flare slightly. She holds her reading pace steady.
As the blood angel continues to read whispering eminates from the skulls.
She continues and the whispers grow frantic.
As she nears the end the whispers turn into chattering. Each skull a voice and each voice spoke clearly and with venomous hate. The words were unknown and sounded much like the chanting that Ashenfury had done before killing the rooster.
When the last word was spoken Bryii pulled a flint striker from her pack and struck it until several sparks danced onto the paper and grew from pinpoints to large burns. As the burning reached her fingers she clawed a hole from the hard stone laden earth causing a fingernail to break. Ignoring the minor concern she pulled a bladder of water hanging from her side and douses the flaming parchment into ashes over the hole. She then covered the hole and the chattering stopped as if it had never been. The skulls looked as they always had in the office of the Orc. Simple, jawless, with runes painted on them. The parchments inside had burned to nothing.
A very loud sniffing could be heard. Bryii and Awatu turned around to look down the curved path that lead to the summit. Two wolves were sniffing the Shrine of Flame. One of them looked up and at noticing it's observers. It lead a dash back down the mountain and out of sight.
Bryii and Awatu were told that the body was just a shell and while Awatu certainly understood such implications Bryii seemed disturbed by the thought of discarding the corpse. Leyujin stepped up and started to take the axe from the Orc. The fingers even in death remained clenched to the handle. After prying the axe away Leyujin kicked the corpse to roll off of the mountain. Ashenfury said that the body would be rend flesh from bone by the living pack that had followed him. Awatu considered the spirit wolves and pondered how the wolves were able to remain in azeroth if Ashenfury's spirit was at war with the Nether. Was he splitting his spirit? Are the two spirit wolves not actually a part of him?
Bryii, Awatu, and Leyujin stumbled down the mountainside in thought. Bryii looked up at hearing a sound. It was like the whispering of the skulls. She looked at the others who didn't seem to hear anything and continued onward...
... THERE IT WAS AGAIN! She stopped and focused on her hearing.
"Looooook'taaaaar OOOOOGGAAAAARRRR!" She heard the faintest battle cry of the Orc through the Nether.
She looked at Awatu who didn't seem to hear the distant message. She then did something that Ashenfury himself had never seen. She cracked a genuine smile.
In his right hand was the ceremonial axe. It's blade refracted the orange sunset over the barrens. He turned and looked at a caged and very agitated rooster that was opening it's wings in revolt. He chopped his axe into the ground to put it within reach while he stooped over the cage and pulled out the rooster with both hands holding the breast. The rooster pecked at the chapped hands. The Orc began to chant...
As he did so Awatu began to beat his drum rhythmically. Boom.dun.dun.dun Boom.dun.dun.dun. Ashenfury hunched over and slowly began to move to the beat of the drum. Boom.dun.dun.dun.
His voice started as a low grumble and he accentuated what sounded like the end of a sentence by shaking the rooster. The bird looked angry but Ashen continued until the bird was fighting furiously in a desperate attempt to attack it's captor. At the height of the frenzy Ashenfury smashed the bird down into the ground with an audible thud. The leg twitched so the orc bashed it again. The moment he bashed it the second time the tiny flames of the candle wicks boomed into the gasping flame of bonfires dancing to the drumming as it grew into hollow thundering BOoOM-DUN-DUN-DUN. The fire jerked spastically to the deafening rhythm.
Ashenfury looked at one of the skulls and waited while hunched over... the runes painted along each skull began to glow a soft red. Upon sighting the change he went to work quickly. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The parchments within the skull sockets began to curl and catch fire on their outer most edges.
Ashenfury hunched over as if he had taken a gut wrenching blow to his stomach. His shoulders shuddered. It appeared the Orc was coughing... or laughing. He took a deep breath and shuddered as a fiery blue but oddly transparent topknot jutted out from his cloak. The blue jerks again and it's the face of Ashenfury. The spirit looked strangely young but it was definitely Ashenfury. The mouth of the spirit opened wide and the face looked skyward as the cloaked shoulders who's feathers looked like spaulders continued to lift. The spirit was roaring it's most beastial roar in silence. As the waist passed you could see that the Orc spirit was stark naked and in his right hand was the same battle axe. It burned a different hue than the rest of the Orc's body in that it was yellow and much less transparent. It did not give off the shimmer of life.
It appeared as if his very soul was being forced from the shell that was the Orc known as Ashenfury. The spirit continued it's silent struggle to free itself from the body. The spirit lifted it's knees as if climbing a great steepness and as it took it's last step away from the hunched body the spirit cackled looking upwards and grew twice it's size before disappearing into the sky.
Before the body collapsed an observant eye could see the very thread that held the spirit to the body stretched thin. Huge white glimmering stitching appeared that ran along the orc's sides that outlined the body. The thread and stitching grew taught and snapped as the body finally collapsed making it look strangely inanimate. The thread's glimmer faded and nothing was left but the dead orc. The low burning candles were just a pool of used wax. Awatu stopped drumming and stood up. The ceremony was nearly complete.
Bryii steps forward from the path leading to the summit and reads the chant. The skull's glow flare slightly. She holds her reading pace steady.
As the blood angel continues to read whispering eminates from the skulls.
She continues and the whispers grow frantic.
As she nears the end the whispers turn into chattering. Each skull a voice and each voice spoke clearly and with venomous hate. The words were unknown and sounded much like the chanting that Ashenfury had done before killing the rooster.
When the last word was spoken Bryii pulled a flint striker from her pack and struck it until several sparks danced onto the paper and grew from pinpoints to large burns. As the burning reached her fingers she clawed a hole from the hard stone laden earth causing a fingernail to break. Ignoring the minor concern she pulled a bladder of water hanging from her side and douses the flaming parchment into ashes over the hole. She then covered the hole and the chattering stopped as if it had never been. The skulls looked as they always had in the office of the Orc. Simple, jawless, with runes painted on them. The parchments inside had burned to nothing.
A very loud sniffing could be heard. Bryii and Awatu turned around to look down the curved path that lead to the summit. Two wolves were sniffing the Shrine of Flame. One of them looked up and at noticing it's observers. It lead a dash back down the mountain and out of sight.
Bryii and Awatu were told that the body was just a shell and while Awatu certainly understood such implications Bryii seemed disturbed by the thought of discarding the corpse. Leyujin stepped up and started to take the axe from the Orc. The fingers even in death remained clenched to the handle. After prying the axe away Leyujin kicked the corpse to roll off of the mountain. Ashenfury said that the body would be rend flesh from bone by the living pack that had followed him. Awatu considered the spirit wolves and pondered how the wolves were able to remain in azeroth if Ashenfury's spirit was at war with the Nether. Was he splitting his spirit? Are the two spirit wolves not actually a part of him?
Bryii, Awatu, and Leyujin stumbled down the mountainside in thought. Bryii looked up at hearing a sound. It was like the whispering of the skulls. She looked at the others who didn't seem to hear anything and continued onward...
... THERE IT WAS AGAIN! She stopped and focused on her hearing.
"Looooook'taaaaar OOOOOGGAAAAARRRR!" She heard the faintest battle cry of the Orc through the Nether.
She looked at Awatu who didn't seem to hear the distant message. She then did something that Ashenfury himself had never seen. She cracked a genuine smile.