Sleepless nights for Thraxys Chaz'al

[LawfulJoe]

The mind can be a place of peace and harmony, but not so for Thraxys Chaz'al. His mindscape was a twisted reflection of the world around, appearing more the shadow realm than the natural world, but it was here that two psyches clashed.

Made of Shadow and full of hate, Kyorli stalked through the twisted gnarled trees of the forest of the mind, he sought his shadow brother, the one who dared to defy his comand, he looked for Thraxys. Deep in the forest coward the dark elf, his armor torn and battered, his body weak and thin as if he had not fed in weeks. Thraxys was a broken thing compared to the Drow he once was, but Kyorli had taken control when his will to live failed. Kyorli would see the Drow rise to a greater potential and enjoy the vengeance upon the humans and lesser races that had stung him so in the past. The ones that lead Mika to take her own life. This arrangement was usually harmonious, as the psyche of Thraxys enjoyed the safety of the forest, it's tangles and thorny brambles, all constructs of his mind, served to hide him from his pain and the reality of his perceived failures. But with the return of Isal'wyn, the shattered form found he was not so helpless as he thought.

"THRAXYSSSSS!!" Hissed Kyorli Loudly as he passed through the forest. The trees intertwined tightly to bar passage unwound and opened as he approached, "Thraxyssss, it is time we had a face to face."

Thraxys heard his brother and knew he had disobeyed and broke their agreement, but it was Isal'wyn, and he could not let Kyorli have her. He took control from the shadow and refused with all of his will to give it back. Looking pathetic but standing strong, The dark elf came out of hiding and made a defiant stance against Kyorli.

"You want a face to face, then lets have it! You can't have her, keep your claws off her! Follow me Kyorli?" He said to the Shadow, drawing a rusty shortsword from his dry rotted scabbard.
"Thraxys, what are you going to do with that, Hmmm? She made you weak, she turned you into some sort of moon worshipping pansy!" Kyorli just shook his head, "and then you left her, broke her heart, sent her away so you could have Mika, the weak elf who took her own life! Oh I think your judgement is not to be considered, especially where women are involved" The Shadow chuckled and approached the emaciated drow that was his partner and brother in darkness. His words were as blows to Thraxys, each reminder beat him down like fists of stone. He dropped to a knee, but arose again in defiance.

"No! Not Isal'wyn! Kill the humans, conspire with Vampires, travel with Lolthites, I don't care,  but you cross the line with when you threaten her." The rusted sword looked just as helpless as the Drow, but there could be no denying that his stance was one of strength brought on by his love for the Tall Elven woman with the golden eyes. They may not be together, but his affection for her remained strong. Kyorli just circled Thraxys like a crag cat would as it sized up it's prey.

"I never Threatened her... but seeing her effect on you, I see I will have no choice but to kill her now. We cannot go on like this, I have too many plans, too much at stake!" The Shadow blade appeared in Kyorli's hand, the deadly rapier made from material of the shadow plane. Both began to circle both with murder in their eyes.

"I won't let you hurt her" he said with a growl as Thraxys attacked, his strike easily deflected by the Shadow who hissed his reply, "Hurt her? You've killed her already, your act of defiance will be met with punishment." The swords clashed against each other, their moves always the perfect counter, for how can one out fight their own shadow.
"Then... I want you OUT!" The Shout knocked Kyorli back and he vanished from the mindscape only to appear in the southern forest near the Vallaki outskirts. Stunned by the sudden summoning into body, he could not react fast enough to deflect the black runed blade that cleaved the shadow in twain. It vanished and for a moment Thraxys felt that the had won.

Back in the mindscape, the cruel shadow blade struck the thin and wretched Thraxys from behind, dropping him face first to the twisted forests floor. Weakened by the blow, it was all the Drow could do to roll over to face the Shadow.
"Did you think it would be that easy? Thraxysss Thraxysss Thraxysssss, we and bonded, brothers for a lifetime. Your feeble blade cannot sever that." With a motion, the tangled thorny vines crawled along the ground and wrapped around the dark elf's ankles and wrists, hoisting him into the air. Thorns bit in and tangled into a web like pattern holding Thraxys secure and rigid. His psychological cage was made of all the doubts and sorrow that had put Thraxys into this state. Mika's Death, The look of sadness in Isal'wyn's eyes as he broke her heart, the words of disappointment Trish stung him with stating he was never there.

Mika's memory came to life, her pale features were worm eaten and and her eyes just empty sockets, the decayed eyes, now putrid fluids, streamed down her cheek like tears, She spoke in an empty voice, "You were never there" and caressed Thraxys's cheek with dead cold hands.

Trish appeared, the doll like face of the undead thing she had become stood before the Drow, and burned him with the hate in her evil soul, he bitter words stabbing him like a knife, "Where were you Thraxys, all abandoned, all left me, even you!", she also took her place to his other side, stroking his other cheek.

Then lastly, Isal'wyn, her eyes wet with tears, the joy lost from her expression, she walked up and kissed him softly, then whispered, "So lonely, you left me Thraxys, left me for my friend who I trusted, how could you do that Thraxys? Though I should not be surprised, you were never there".

The memories of the three women washed over him, stealing his courage and resolve. More jagged vines added themselves to the cage, sealing Thraxys away with his regrets. Kyorli just watched with satisfaction.
"Poor Thraxys, you are the shadow now, I am the Drow! Sleep now in safety, I will handle everything, but first I need to patch up things with the Vampiressssss, your foolishness took her prey from her and we cannot let that alliance dissolve!"
Long Moments passed in the Southern forest, and if any had look upon the Drow they would surely have thought him mad. He convulsed and shouted denials to no one, and clutched his head, only to wail out a sorrowful cry. This strange display ended with him standing straight and tall. He set off to find his undead partner, and make things right. How he hated to voluntarily give her his blood, but anything else after helping to lure in the human and then chasing him away would be an insult.

[LawfulJoe]

Her blood had dried upon his chainmail, creating dull spots on the dark metal. The drow ran, his mind racing knowing what he had done. The dark forest only served to echo his shouts and animalistic growls as Thraxys seem to physically fight with himself. He grabbed and tugged at his own hair, pulling out tuffs of white, as he cried out in soul wrenching anguish.

“DAMN YOU!!! WHY! HER!!”

He fell into a shadowed alcove of trees and rocks, panting bleeding and enraged.
“She’s dead… I killed her” He snapped back at himself in a much different tone, savage and cruel, “No you imbecile, she would be dead, but you had to go and tell people where she was, fool she would be wolf dropping by now if you had just stayed quiet!”

Inside the twisted Forest of his mind, Thraxys stood before his shadow, the tangled vines of his chaotic memories and thoughts still clinging in tatters where he had freed himself.
“What have we done Kyorli? Why did we have to kill her?” The shadow just shook his head.
“Did you think she would just take you back, open arm, all forgiven? You cast her aside like moldy bread for Ramika, oh yes, that is the stuff trust is made of. Just look at yourself, all doe eyed and hopeful, you are pathetic, and weak, a disgrace in the eyes of Vhaeraun, and to all drow.”
The words stung the dark elf, and bent his shoulders with guilt.
“You killed Mika, and now you killed Isal’wyn, but take heart brother, you are truly free now. No more love to cloud your mind.”
Thraxys just listened, seeing the shock and horror in Isal’wyn’s eyes when his blades cut her midsection in an “X” like wound. He could hear her last words, his name, fading into the night when his killing blow dropped her.  It played in his memory with deafening reality.
“She’s gone… and so am I” was all he could say. The forest grew thicker and more tangled around him. The broken Drow did not protest, even when the thorny vines engulfed his head and face.
“Now Now Thraxys, don’t worry, I will handle this.” Said Kyorli, patting the chest of the entrapped and now sleeping dark elf. “They will be coming for us, for me, but I will kill them all! Then I will find their friends and loved ones, and I will kill them too.” The laugh that followed was more a hiss, as the tangled forest of his mind grew dark. Kyorli stood triumphant, he had won!
Awakening in the Sullen wood, the Drow was up and moving. The shadows pulled in around him and he vanished. He moved across the lands, hidden and wary, waiting for the lynch mob to hunt him down. He could not help but smile when he thought of how wonderful their screams would be.

[LawfulJoe]

“Who are you that dare take my plan?!” Kyorli shouted to the winds of the Baratack Mountains. The people suffered boils, pain and death, but not of his own doing and it made him angry to have been robbed of his vengeance upon the people of Vallaki.
“The months of planning, finding the right people to make it possible, and now they are plagued, but not by my will.”

The Drow paced the cliff side, seething that the gods of this twisted realm could be so cruel. He needed to focus, to rethink and use the events of late to his advantage. He sat with his legs crossed, closed his eyes and pushed the cloud of anger from his mind. What would be next had he succeeded in his own plague? What would be the next course of actions? He would have spread the disease, and burned the city. Suddenly his eyes opened with a revelation. “The priests have not cured this plague. It’s… not natural!”

Someone was behind the plague, just as he had planned to be, but whom? Could this be a potential ally? or someone to be manipulated and take the fall for the crime? He stroked his narrow chin, a devilish grin replacing the deep scowl that had set there of late. More information would be needed, and the healing efforts would need to be slowed, perhaps it was time for some priests to meet their god! With that thought in mind, he stood with the grace known of his people, fluid and silent. He began his trek down the mountain, the shadows wrapping around him as he walked, vanishing him from sight.

[LawfulJoe]

The moans of the people of Vallaki was music to his ears. The plague killed them in such a vile and painful way, it was better than what he could have designed with mortal means. The irony was that is was a forgotten member of the very keep he had plotted against not a year ago that now made his desires come to fruit. Such a sweet little girl, with a mind for revenge that equalled and surpassed his own. She could be the daughter he never hoped to have. One to plot the end of Vallaki with and with the power to bring ruin in grand way. The endless possibilities made the Drow's imagination take flight. It was time for him to iniate the more mundane elements of his orignal plan. It was time to punish the City of Vallaki more for its impudence and self-righteous judgement.

[LawfulJoe]

Chosen, that is what the creature had called him, Chosen. The Drow, if that was what he was anymore, looked at his face in the reflection of a still pond. His skin that was once smooth and deep onyx was paled and grayish, stretch tight against the withered muscles and bone below, giving him angular skull like features. His eyes were deep set in their sockets and the crimson irises were surrounded by the yellowed white of his eye. Kyorli drew back his withered lips to grimace a needle sharp-toothed grin. A thing of horror he had become, a monster.

It had been many minutes of staring at his new face in the reflection, almost a half an hour, and he suddenly realized he had forgotten to breathe. With some effort he forced an inhale and exhale, but there was no comfort or discomfort from the act, it simply was not needed anymore. Dead but not dead, but not alive either, undead as the creature had called him, he was no longer the person he once was.

His fingers were long and pointed with savage claw-like nails. They moved flawlessly and with an agility that even elves could never know. His movements were so fluid and graceful to an unnatural level. With a leap he gripped onto a tree about 6 foot off the ground. His claws bit into the bark, but with a spinning flip he launched himself to a another nearby tree, now 12 foot off the ground. He could not help but contain and deadly smile.

From this vantage point the forest seemed sharp and clear to his undead eyes. Even in the dark of night, he could see the detail in the bark and easily see the scampering squirrel he had awoken, the animal obviously frightened by his presence. He knew that people never looked up, and how easy it would be to pounce upon unsuspecting humans.
“Vile humans… Vile Elves… Vile EVERYTHING!!” He snarled aloud, a powerful hate welling up inside of him like nothing he ever knew. Only the sound of cracking wood brought him to his senses. The area he had been clutching broke away in his hands. It sent him falling and tumbling, but with the agility of a cat Kyorli righted himself and landed into a roll and back to his feet. Uninjured or even winded, the dark elf was amazed and at the same time sickened. He would not know pain again, not from common things like a 12 foot fall. The wood from the tree was still in his hands, torn from where he had been clinging. It was gray and lifeless, brittle and dry like driftwood. His touch had stolen the life from the tree, and with a growl, he crushed the chunks in his hands to splinters.

“What have I become?” He whispered to himself, words he once spoke before in a distant memory. There were no tears to cry for his state, nothing but a rage burned deep within, the source of his lifeless existence. He looked out into the darkness, back toward Vallaki, the city he hated full of people who did not deserve to live. They were weak, inferior beings, unworthy of the gift of life. He was here to take it away from them, the embodiment of the hatred inspired by their whips and unwarranted attacks upon him. He could imagine the great suffering he could now inflict upon them. His power was something to be feared, and he would remind them why they hid themselves from the night.

Feeling the shadows, his one true friend, the unnatural thing stepped into the darkness near a massive oak and vanished. It was time to hunt, time to plan and plot. Even in this wretched state, he realized, that he was not so different than he was in life, and in that moment he had to wonder, had he always been a monster?

[LawfulJoe]

The streets of Vallaki, from the shadows, he watched, seethed. These people walked the cobble streets each day, doing the meanial tasks. A man has his plow blade fixed by the smithy, a woman collected the ingredients she needs for evening meal from the market. Mundane, and utterly unnecessary lifeforms in the eyes of Kyorli. He had watched long enough, the time had come toremove some of these wretched creatures. The lands were teaming with humans, and the pitiful excuses of, "There are too many" or "There is no chance for success against them, their numbers are too great". His own kind, Drow, proud and devious, gave him these weak reasons. It was time to cull the herd, it was time to kill and make the blood run in rivers in the streets of Vallaki.