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Redemption	By : Larien Category: +S through Z > World of Warcraft Views: 3589 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 3
           Larienel strode confidently into the training section of the Vindicaar. This was the area Lord Illidan had summoned her to, and though she knew this was supposed to be a punishment, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of excitement. Was Illidan going to personally train her?
           “Your excitement is quite obvious, Illidari. You should not telegraph your feelings so. Many would take advantage of them,” a deep, instantly recognizable voice said from behind her. Turning around, she was surprised that Illidan had so quietly snuck up on her, even though he towered imposingly over her smaller form.
           “Lord Illidan” she acknowledged trying to keep her excitement in check.
           “I can still sense your mirth,” Illidan replied in a growling tone, “I promise you will not enjoy the next few hours, though it will make sure you are adequately prepared for the battles ahead.”
           Illidan walked around her to a set of crystals that Larienel knew controlled the training simulator. This simulator, programmed by Chief Artificer Romuul, could generate enemies of varying types, as well as various scenarios. The simulations were programmed to act exactly like the demons, and while being struck by the enemies’ weapons only provided a non-lethal shock when they successfully hit, it was still quite painful. Illidan had originally not intended to punish his Lieutenant’s misstep of pointing out his weakness by offering him aid, but as she had requested penance, he thought of how best to instruct her. All Illidari received combat training when they joined because many of them were not combatants in their former lives, but he needed to see how much of that training she retained and adapted. The next few hours would help with that.
           “First, you will run through some scenarios so I can evaluate your tactics and form,” Illidan said as he continued adjusting the crystals, “Your punishment begins now.”
           Suddenly, four demons appeared in the training simulator. Larienel recognized the female demons as Shivans, four-armed demons lethal with both blade and magic. They each had four large scimitars and were moving to surround her. With unnatural speed, one of the shivans charged forward, blades whirling with a deadly grace. Larienel parried the strikes with her warglaives effortlessly, when suddenly, she felt an incredibly painful sting on her arm, much worse than she thought it would be. Looking down, she saw a burn mark on her arm, from where one of the other Shivans had moved in and attacked while she was distracted.
           “You must always be aware of your foes, as they will not hesitate to use any weakness you allow them to,” Illidan reprimanded, “Also, I have removed the safety inhibitors on the weapon shocks. These shocks will be as deadly as any demonic blade or spell.”
           The realization that she was now fighting for her life spurred Larienel to greater action. With a flourish, she parried two of the strikes from the shivan in front of her with her weapons, creating an opening in the shivan’s guard. With a quick reverse of her warglaives, she stabbed forward, scoring a deadly blow on the demon’s torso. Retracting her blades, she performed a backflip, using her wings to carry her a little higher, as one of the shivans came charging in.
           Illidan watched the battle unfold as Larienel made short work of the other three shivans. He admired her quick decisions in battle. She seemed able to spot gaps in an enemy’s defenses, and always took advantage of them. But she was overconfident, and many of her moves were predictable if one watched her for a period of time. An experienced opponent would make short work of her. As Larienel slew the last shivan, she had only a second to rest before two large forms made of fiery boulders appeared. Infernals were common enemies they faced, and were Larienel’s next challenge. While not the smartest, they were incredibly powerful, and could send out waves of fel fire to incinerate one's foes.
           Illidan continued to watch Larienel fight the Infernals. He took no joy from putting her through these trials, but he had to make sure she understood the unending threat they faced. Demons killed would eventually reform unless they were destroyed in the Twisting Nether, or areas of conflux. Endless waves of demons stood between them and victory. Even if all the demons were destroyed, there were still two titans to face as well: Sargeras and his second in command, Aggramar. Beings that were responsible for the creation of countless races across the worlds, including the world they fought for: Azeroth. Illidan had been overconfident many times, and hoped to train his Illidari to be better than him. Still, he was mildly impressed by her performance thus far.
           Larienel defeated the Infernals, and several even larger demons appeared. Hulking monstrosities known as Pit Lords now assaulted Larienel. Larienel dodged the giant blades of the Pit Lords. How many of these simulations must she go through, she wondered to herself. She spared a glance at Illidan, whose impassive face gave no hint as to whether he was impressed or disappointed in her performance thus far. She dodged and darted around the humongous forms of the pit lords, focusing her strikes at their legs to bring them down, cutting tendons left and right, and running up their spines to plunge her blades into their skulls. One by one they fell to her blade.
           Yet still more enemies appeared before her. Inquisitors cast bolts of pure shadow towards her. Succubi that tried to whip and ensnare her. Spider-demons that tried to trap her. Wave after wave. She received several shocks that were excruciating but she fought on and on. Several hours went by. She was getting fatigued. She was getting angry! Was Illidan trying to kill her?
           A pack of fel stalkers surrounded her, moving in for the kill. Channeling her rage, she let out a scream and jumped into the air, using her wings to slow her fall. She then freed the demon inside, taking its form, and let loose with her deadly eye beams, destroying them. Spent, she fell to the floor.
           “Tired already?” a new voice asked, “The easiest thing to do would be to submit.” Standing at the opposite side of the arena was one of the red-skinned Eredar, the demons who evolved from the Draenei on Argus, the race which Kil’jaeden and Archimonde had belonged to.
           “Join us, Illidari, as your master once did, and you will no longer have to fight. You will be a queen, a goddess. Bend the knee, and you will be lifted above all these other worthless peons.”
           A rage unlike any other boiled in side Larienel. How dare this thing ask her to abandon what she stood for! These creatures had obliterated everyone she cared for. Letting loose an outburst of pure furiousness, she charged forward to destroy the abomination in front of her. Suddenly, the demonic entity disappeared, and was replaced by Illidan, her lord and master. Quickly, she unfurled her wings, catching the air, and letting it push her back. She landed, breathing heavily.
           “Why did you stop your attack, Illidari?” Illidan asked in a reproachful tone
           “I did not wish to strike you, my lord,” Larienel replied, kneeling down.
           “That is your first mistake. The enemy we face will use any means to deceive, destroy, or corrupt you. They can take many forms, and you must be prepared to strike down even your own family, even me, if needed. Now rest for a minute, but do not prostrate yourself before me like some ignorant peon. There is no need to supplicate yourself currently. Stand up.”
           Larienel was grateful for the break, and stood up facing Illidan. She looked down and noticed she had several burns on various parts of her body.
           Illidan seemed to have noticed as well, but did not dismiss her. She wondered what else he had in store.
           “Let me see your weapons, Lieutenant,” Illidan finally said after what seemed an eternity of silence. Obediently, she handed them over. Handling both weapons, Illidan examined one of the blades, testing the sharpness, and examining the intricate symbol of Elune. Was she a follower of the lunar goddess? It was common for night elves to be a follower of Elune, but how devout had she been in her past life; how devout was she currently? As he slowly traced the symbol, the thought of a particular turquoise-haired priestess that had dominated his thoughts for millennia, came unbidden to his mind. He forced himself to stop thinking of her, the time for that was past, and he would no longer be bound by that particular memory. He ran his index finger along one of the blades, and found it to be as sharp as a wintersaber claw. She took excellent care of her weapon. He was impressed at her willingness to follow orders, a loyal soldier through and through, and he regretted what he was about to put her through, however, she needed to learn that she should question everything.
           “Lesson one,” Illidan began in a low voice.
           “NEVER GIVE UP ANY ADVANTAGE!” Illidan shot forward towards Larien, and launched a vicious double slash at her with her own weapons. Larien rolled out of the way, shocked that Illidan would attack her, but before she could protest, he quickly changed direction and came at her again. She kept dodging, and he kept coming.
           “By giving up your weapon, you leave yourself open, and weak! The enemy we face will use every ability, spell, or power at their disposal. Any advantage you fail to use will be exploited by them.”
           Illidan came at her with a downward slash, she threw herself to the left. She felt a stinging sensation on her leg, and looked down to see blood. Illidan had changed his arc at the last second and scored a cut with her own weapon. It was a shallow cut, but her blood began to drip down her leg.
           He came at her again, and again. Overhead slashes, chops at her legs, stabs at her midsection, many of which she dodged, but some connected. He began to score more and more small cuts on her slender frame. She was sore, bruised, and cut all over.
           Illidan kept up the attack. He did not like doing this, but this was a method he had seen Kur’talos Ravencrest use to teach new recruits, and had also used on him. Tiny cuts and bruises, nothing that would inflict any serious damage. He was attacking her but purposefully holding back. Ravencrest had explained afterwards that the idea was to understand the war of attrition they all faced. Regardless of how hard they fought, there would be casualties, and injuries to deal with. There would be frustration, and anger over lost battles, and friends. It was about controlling one’s emotions, and not giving up. He scored a few more tiny cuts with her blade, always avoiding major injuries.
           Larienel was bleeding from over a dozen cuts all over her body. Nothing life threatening she saw. But each new cut bred more frustration. She was better than this! Why was Illidan facing her now, after hours of training? Why had he waited until she was physically and mentally exhausted to engage her?   Had she truly displeased him that much by offering him aid? Suddenly, Illidan stopped, and motioned for her to hold
           “Illidari, I want you to understand the severity of what we face on a daily basis,” Illidan began in a calm voice, “The longer the war goes on, the more we lose. We need bold action. We need to strike decisive victories. There will always be more demons to kill, they always come back. The defeat of Kil’jaeden was a major victory, but we still have two titans we must face. The titans could annihilate us with but a fraction of their power. But we must persevere. We must also be willing to sacrifice.”
           Illidan held out both of Larienel’s weapons to her. She wasn’t sure what to do, but he motioned again with the weapons for her to take them. He was intrigued at the implicit trust she placed in him. Something no one had ever done willingly before now. They would of course listen to him, and follow his plans, but none ever trusted him as this Illidari clearly did and he wondered why she was so loyal? She seemed to revere Elune, or so the symbol on her weapon indicated. Why would one such as her join the Illidari, much less trust him so wholeheartedly? Was she so naive as to give her complete faith and trust to any master she served?" He hoped she would see the value in the coming lesson, although it would be a harsh one. As she reached for the warglaives, Illidan’s hand flared with fel-power, and he shattered the weapons into several large shards.
           “Lesson Two. The enemy we face is ruthless, and will grant you no mercy. You must grant no mercy in return. These fools on the Vindicaar have outdated notions that this victory will be won with outdated concepts such as Honor. We must be as unforgiving as the vile creature we face!”
           Seeing her glaives destroyed, the reminder of her past was too much for Larienel to process. A flood of memories momentarily assaulted her, and then, something inside her shattered, like her broken weapon, and the floodgates opened. Letting loose a howl of rage, she charged straight at Illidan. He watched her come, and readied himself for her attack. At that the last second, Larienel dropped and rolled low to the floor and picked up several pieces of her shattered weapon. Though the shards cut into her hands, she was determined to show Illidan what his lessons were worth.
           She whipped one of the bladed edges of the broken weapon at Illidan. It was near effortless for him to deflect the projectile, but he was caught off guard as she charged him. He levelled a powerful backhand at her, but she ducked and cut his leg slightly.
           “Excellent! That rage will be needed,” Illidan growled in slight pain, “But let’s see how well you handle a foe that is ready for you.” With the slightest of effort, Illidan summoned his weapons, the Warglaives of Azzinoth from the nether.
           “Come, Illidari!” Illidan roared at her, and came forward with an overhead chop, forcing her to dive away. Recovering her balance, she ran head first at Illidan, and tried to hit him with some quick stabs. However, he deflected all her blows. Her rage had overtaken her, and her moves were quite obvious. He deflected blow after blow, he could see her moves coming. He needed to get through her rage and force her to think. He had a sudden thought of inspiration, remembering one of the earliest tricks of arcane magic he had learned. But he needed some breathing room. Illidan started attacking her with his warglaives, forcing her to retreat. He started saying words of arcane power as he did this. She jumped away, and came in at different angles, but still he blocked her attacks, making her angrier. He finally finished his spell, and deliberately dropped his guard.   She saw the opening, and rushed in for a quick slash, but the Illidan in front of her dematerialized.
           “You lost focus, and forgot to see the magic. Use your rage, but don’t let it blind you. Don’t let it control you,” several voices said at once, all Illidan. As she watched, she was surrounded by three mirror images of Illidan.
           “This is but a parlor trick, but one that many demons will use. You must always be wary. See the magic for what it is!” the Illidan's instructed in unison.
           Channeling her anger, she forced herself to focus on the magic. Immediately it became clear that the Illidan on the left was the real one, as his aura had a taint green, while the others showed the pure Indigo common of Arcane magic. In a split second, she came up with an idea She jumped towards one of the Illidan duplicates that raised it’s warglaives to defend, but at the last second, opened her wings, and used them to propel her into a back flip behind the real Illidan, who didn’t manage to dodge the attack completely. She laid a gash into his shoulder, and blood began to cascade down his arm. As he had watched her charge towards the duplicate, he felt a sense of disappointment, but her last second maneuver had left even him surprised, and she had spotted the flaw in his guard, and focused her attack around that flaw. For the third time in these few short hours he was again impressed with this Illidari. No, he silently corrected himself, he was impressed by Larienel.   In the coming days, he determined he would learn more about her.. He was about to end the fight, but had to quickly raise his guard again as Larienel launched another volley of quick strikes at him. He parried each stroke, and launched a few retaliatory strikes as well. Nothing meant to connect, just something to drive her back so he could speak. And yet, his inner demon was beginning to enjoy this. It wanted to fight back! To strike down this opponent. But no, he would not lose control!
           Larienel did not let up. She attacked, ignoring all the cuts, bruises, and burns that had been inflicted upon her. She needed to inflict one good hit, something that would force Illidan to accept her, unknowing of how much she had already impressed him. As he had said at the beginning, she needed to be willing to strike anyone down, even him. She watched for an opening, but he wouldn’t give her one. She thought on Illidan’s comment about sacrifice, and knew what she had to do. She looked for the opening, knowing what it would cost her to take, and took it willingly.
           Illidan saw Larienel come in for another attack, and prepared another parrying blow, when suddenly there was a sharp pain in his bicep. He looked down, and saw a shard of her broken warglaive, shoved as far into his flesh as it would go. Though it was not a life-threatening injury, he once again found himself impressed that she could land such a blow.
           “Well struck, Larienel!” Illidan remarked, speaking her given name for the first time. He looked up from the wound into Larienel’s eyes, and at once knew something was terribly wrong.
           “Lesson three…”she coughed, a trickle of blood escaping her mouth, “Victory…..at any cost, even…..one’s own life.” Illidan looked down, and saw that she had partially impaled herself onto his weapon, through the lower left side of her abdomen. It was not a mortal wound, but she would need healing, and soon. This session had gone too far, he thought remorsefully, he should have stopped it far sooner, before this had happened. He should not have allowed himself to become so fascinated with her He had failed her.
           As Larienel sank into unconsciousness, she heard Illidan shout for a healer to come at once. Her last sight before her vision faded was Illidan looking down at her. She knew at once the look in his eyes was disappointment in her, but she sank into blackness before she could ask what she had done to displease him.
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Redemption