Zeldamon: The Legacy (Part 13) (My World of Warcraft FanFiction)

Word came through of Joseph's whereabouts finally, and the sisters prepared for the reunion with their father. "It's been so many years..." Alucardia whispered softly to herself. Zeldamon and Jayxen nodded, letting the weight of their situation sink in. With almost a hundred years gone by, none of them wanted this kind of reminder of Joseph. Slowly, their good memories were fading into the most recent encounter with the king. All Alucardia could see now was the hate he had shown her, and she became more convinced that there was no hope of recovery for him.

Jayxen clung to her wishes of rehabilitation. All three sisters had fallen to mental illness, why would it be that he could not be cured. She and Zeldamon had not gotten to know Joseph in the way that Alucardia had been blessed with, and they were beginning to resent her for the time she got to spend with their loving father. She was becoming more hostile when speaking about him, and they just hoped that she kept talking about him at all. Alucardia was still in recovery herself, but refused to pass up the opportunity to make sure he was "dealt with correctly".

Lyfe gathered up their growing troops so that the march could begin. Joseph had been spotted in The Outlands, and there was much desert to be covered. With gryphons in the sky, though, location proved to be easier than Lyfe first thought, and they returned home in tow with a very angry, indigent King Joseph. They had to kill everyone that had been with him, and he cursed their deaths on the soul of life, telling him he could smell his daughters on him.

As they interrogated, chained, and jailed King Joseph, Alucardia decided she would not rest until she found what came of the father of her child. They should be wed if he was alive, still receiving torment in a cell somewhere. She wanted to be his rescuer this time, and despite the promises, and then torture, Joseph was given, he refused that he knew anything of anyone named Pyke. She described Pyke to him over and over again, prodding Joseph with her polearm, ordering that the fallen blood be tested by a shaman. He showed no signs of even being bothered, only said over and over that his army would come and destroy everyone.

Zeldamon was concerned that her sister's obsession with finding her lover was another way of covering other feelings, and when they sat in their healing trials she tried to steer away from Pyke. It had struck her that though her mother was dead, maybe when all was finished with their father they could search for hear soul, and put it to rest.

Life with Zeldamon and her husband became less strained as Alucardia healed, which had seemed to heal Zeldamon as well instead of ailing her. Lyfe was ashamed for being weary of the journey she needed to take with her sisters to finish her own healing that he had thought was completed. Realizing that he had known his wife for little time, Lyfe made it a point to sit with her while she read books at night, discussing her fears and dreams.

Zeldamon woke some weeks into the interrogations with her face covered in tears and sweat. She had been having forgotten nightmares for a couple days now, but this one was vivid. He mother had gotten into her dreams somehow, and Zeldamon was left with cold sweat and the sound of Lyfe snoring next to her, sleeping sound. She slipped out from under the covers and went to the bath for a hot shower.

She stood there, bracing herself on the cold tile, trying to shake the dream and come back into real life, but when she closed her eyes to shield them from the water spilling out from above her, the nightmare continued. She had to force her eyes open and pray she not blink. "I hear you!" she began to scream unconsciously. "Where are you?"

As she sank to the floor of the shower, the water now cold and her screams echoing through the garrison, Lyfe ran in to find her shaking uncontrollably. He turned off the shower spigot and wrapped her up into a towel, fighting her protests. She eventually gave up fighting, and sank into his arms sobbing and defeated, letting the nightmare come to reality for Lyfe that she had just experienced a trauma, and he had no idea what it could be.

Once calmed, Zeldamon explained to life her what her nightmares had been trying to tell her. She rocked back and forth, holding herself and recoiling at anyone's touch. Lyfe had called in Jayxen and Alucardia to get her to speak lucidly, but no one had been successful in guiding Zeldamon back to bed. She insisted that she see King Joseph, but now she called him father. She seemed sane, and they agreed to let her into the dungeon while Alucardia kept watch. She had insisted, hungry for answers still.

Zeldamon held in her hand, the studded knuckes she designed for her father as her mother began showing her the torment she felt believing he was dead and gone forever. Marladylight had tried to contact Joseph's spirit, over and over again for closure of their last night together and she could feel his presence. He never answered her cries for help though, and the torment led to her demise. The attempts at contact had been hidden to all of her children, but continued for almost a century.

Waking in a cold sweat most nights, she had spent a straight week of nights torturing her father for information from back then. Covered in lacerations from the whips, chains, studded knuckles and various other weapons had scarred most of his body. When Zeldamon entered the room he still spat at her presence; it was as if he could sense her coming. He hadn't showed signs of giving up, but late into the winter, Zeldamon broke him down.

"Do you know what it feels like?" he hissed at Zeldamon. His breath had become haggard, his lungs filling with the damp of a prison even he had come to be impressed by. He had been there for months now, and no one had came for him. He would sit in his cell, cursing at the horde and their disloyalty. "Do you know the feeling of the children you raised turning your blood to acid in their presence?" Joseph finally choked out, and Zeldamon dropped the sword she had held up to his chest,

"All I have to do is stand right here," Zeldamon moved closer. She continued to get closer, and as she watched him squirm, she could smell his sweat. Her face was right next to his when she whispered, "Then let me make it stop. Let me try to make it stop."

As Joseph's eyes teared, they filled with blood. "It will... will never stop..." he was coughing now, with blood escaping from his mouth and ears. "You'll kill me trying." Zeldamon smiled as she stroked his face, recognizing his face only once he was broken. She still hated him, but with him weakened in this way, she felt a small part of the father she barely remembered.

"I'm left with nothing now but to kill you anyways, father. Think about it, and I will prepare for the ritual involved in bringing you back home to us." Zeldamon searched his eyes for a glimmer of a hint that he wanted to come back home to them, but his eyes rolled back into his head, and he began seizing, blood now gushing from his eyes and mouth.