The Phantoms of Silver series is a series of brief flashback vignettes I have authored, giving brief glimpses into Aery's past and things that have shaped her into the woman she is today.
Chapter 1: Reverie in Falconwing
Dawn arrived in Falconwing Square much as it did any number of days since the restoration and resettling of Silvermoon, the gleaming golden light shining off of the faded red domes and gilded crennelations of the still uninhabited Old City. Streams of golden radiance reflected off the main thoroughfare of Dawning Lane, showing the way to the Sunspire and the ancient monument to the venerated Dath'Remar Sunstrider, first of the great dynasty. From the shining stones of that ancient causeway the light refracted off of the golden face and perfect form of the Huntress of the Sun, and from there to become millions of golden motes upon the morning dew on the wild untended grass throughout the great park; a final legacy from the days of the Quel'dorei, before the race as a whole was pushed through a crucible of fire and blood that most did not survive. Still...even in ruins, the effect was glorious and brought out memories of the days before in any who had lived them.
Knight Lieutenant Aerybeth Duskfalcon, the Bladebreaker of Westfall, was one such elf, and she leaned out over the balcony of her flat overlooking the old city, taking in the sight and drinking in its glory as she did every morning that she was blessed to be in her people's capital. She breathed in a sigh, wistfully wishing that she could sing of the Dawn and Light's glory as she had in countless morning Liturgies in unforgettable holy places now laid to waste.
Lordaeron...Andorhal....Hearthglen...Darrowshire...Southshore...Pyrewood...Corrin's Crossing...and Stratholme. Names of great places, now resting in infamy if not outright burning ruin.
Her throat tightened at the litany of places, the memory of the faces lifting up at the sound of her voice. A Paladin leading services was a rarity, and the musical clarity that came to an Elf by second nature was a treasure unheard in most human lands. Even though she knew no one was watching her, she hardened her expression, and brushed her long golden hair behind her expressive ears. She wanted to blame the clenching in her throat upon the old wound that silenced her over a year earlier, but her slender fingers could feel how her ears were wilted, and the stinging mist in her eyes betrayed her sadness at the beauty before her as well as the beauty that was gone forever.
I failed my People, my Nation, and I nearly betrayed my own Faith.
In her mind, her voice rang out with a clarity and determination she had never known before her injury; a piercing clarity like a trumpet sounded too close to one's ear. A determination that she had no suspicion of having within herself before the trials brought on by the Fall.
Her unshed tears are cleared from her eyes as she gazed back into her room upon her armor stand, where her armor, of human make and style, sporting still the royal blue of Lordaeron in trim and cape shines again like a beacon. The enchantments she had been forced to consume wholesale in the wake of the Sunwell's corruption restored to it by her Commander's beneficence.
I will not fail again. My People, my Nation, or my Faith. Surely there is common ground to be had. To survive and remain Righteous.
Aerybeth could feel it, a resonating power within the armor that reached beyond its original intent, and gleamed brighter than the enchantments replaced upon it. Alert to possible danger, she steeled herself, but the curiousity of the Highborne pushed her hand forward, and she laid her palm within the metallic touch of the gauntlets, her mind absently remarked that the touch was unexpectedly warm before her breath was taken from her by a flood of memories...her own memories. She could feel her consciousness being pulled into her past and fought it, knowing there would only be tears for her there.
She fought for an interminable moment against her memory, but in the end the tenacious Paladin gave way to her memory, that which made her what she is, and fell into waking dream.
Monastery of the Light, 28 years after Portal.
"Knight Lt Duskfalcon, I have analyzed the flow of the dread Necromancer's power from every conceivable angle, and I assure you that this is the only way. Even the recalcitrant Doan sees things this way as well, why do you persist in trying to dissuade me from this?" Arellas Fireleaf spoke with authority as a Magister was accustomed to, though with a softer edge for one of the few of his own race in the Crusade, softened further by their past of sharing many of the cold Tirisfal nights keeping each other warm while the remnants of the Plagued scratched at the holy sanctuaries outer walls.
"Arellas...please. I know that my grasp of the arts are but a childs...but surely there is another way. I fear...I fear the waves of zealotry that we find ourselves in ever since...ever since..." Aerybeth's eyes shone hopefully, reaching for the great mage's desire to see right done even as she slid her guantlet from her hand to interlace her deceptively soft and smooth fingers with his own. She gripped him firmly, and smiled with a gasp as he pulled her close, her armored lush curves crushing his robes between them as his other hand found her waist, his breath whispered past her golden hair and attentive ears.
"Don't even whisper a word of Stratholme, Aery. It is not safe. I heard what Fairbanks said, clear as Sunlight, same as you...and same as everyone here. And we both know what Renault and Sally Whitemane had done with him." His eyes burned fiercely and protectively as he pulled his head back to gaze into her eyes. "You have seen, as I have...what is becoming of this Crusade. Righteousness lost. Innocence lost." With a gesture of a hand that quickly replaced itself familiarly upon her waist etherial notes filled the air as the mage began a waltz with the Knight of the Silver Hand, a dance like many before, only now with each step, the two lovers knew with greater and greater certainty, that it would be their last.
"I know, my love...but, I can't let you give your life to a cause we both know is failing in Virtue, if not in ends. I would risk the baleful eyes of Dathrohan and Isillien both if only you would stay with me...hold me...love me. All of Azeroth has fallen to insanity...and our nights and battles together are the only thing I find sense in anymore." Aerybeth spoke, golden light infused voice breaking in pleading passion and tears of love and loss welling in her eyes.
"Shhhhh...quiet, Aery...my cantrip can only cover up so much...I give myself not for the Crusade, or even for Lordaeron or our far off homeland, may the summer never end there. I do this because it is within my power...and no one else's. If I do not, then all hope for life and Light are extinguished in Tirisfal. I am the only one who knows how to combat Diesalven, and I am therefor the one to do it. Your destiny lies before you still, Aery...and I will cherish forever the dance we have shared." With a sobbing shudder, Aerybeth laid her head upon Arellas' strong shoulder, whispering to him of how she would treasure him until her heart beat its last, when the notes upon the air began to fade, and the hand within hers lost its substantiality, with a gasp she watched as the memory of Arellas faded away, his lips moving, but no sound leaving them as the walls of the Monastery peeled away to be replaced by her room in Silvermoon. She remembered what he had said, though.
"Live well, Bladebreaker. Love well, as you loved me."
Her hands dropped nervelessly from the guantlet, her eyes stinging anew with unshed tears, her tall lithely muscled form slumped and then dropped to her knees as her watery sorrow finally poured out of her emerald green eyes. She closed them, and brought her hands to her face to wipe them away.
And then, Aerybeth Duskfalcon, Knight Lieutenant and Aegis of the Silver Hand, Taskmaster of the Grey Wolves and described by many as the hardest living woman in Quel'thalas, let it out.
Aerybeth wept.
Subject: Phantoms of Silver ((IC)) 
Wed May 27, 2009 2:57 pm
