Aurael looked at the opening of what was once her prison, seeing it as she had when she realised she could be free again, and stepping out of the tomb she had once been sealed in. Today was yet another day where the monstrous form she was trapped in would stalk the landscape looking for friends.
She had made a habit of practicing talking to herself so that she knew how to speak if she ever met someone in these ruins, even if her mannerisms were outdated and antiquated, relative to the modern talk of most common speakers.
"Hello. I'm Aurael, and I'm looking for a friend. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. I am not a monster. I used to be human. At heart, I still am human." Aurael repeated to herself as she wandered, her tail taking chunks out of the waist high ruins.
"I survived. I conquered this city. Nothing scares me. Nothing can scare me. Nothing can-" She looked down and saw a rat, and instantly screamed, at the top of her lungs, before also seeing the corpse of a human female, fresh and no doubt dead due to magical backfire, a fire spell by the looks of it.
She stood there, screaming for a minute, before she felt sad, and let out a low, soft growl, picking up the burned body, and examining it.
Thelian's white hand embraced Amlan's, and she let him slowly lead her through the ruins in the early morning. He felt the silk of her long dress brush against his side, and softly looked down at her figure beside him. She didn't raise her glance, and he admired her unearthly beauty in silence - so cold, yet so fair. It was almost as if a star was brought down upon the earth, radiant and unyielding in its light...
"Amlan." she spoke silently. Her head slowly turned towards him, soft silver chains on her circlet slipping through the wind-blown strands of black hair. "Don't worry yourself about the Hand any more. We both know that it has been lost... I never expected you to bring it any soon, for I know well that it was lost in the flow of time."
"Every day my searching takes is only another day you have to spend in solitude. How can I not worry? I wish for you to be free and walk the earth like you deserve to." Amlan replied, shaking his head. Thelian stopped walking for a moment, and turned around, facing him.
"There isn't a day I would not sacrifice for you."
"And there isn't one that I wouldn't devote to you, Thelian." The ranger smiled, but it was a sad smile, and he softly stroke her cheek.
They continued walking. The ruins, far from the valley, were dead and cold, but a sound somewhere afar broke the silence in which only wind was wailing. A skittering, something scratching the stone, and a large figure moved somewhere in the distance. At its sight, Amlan immediately jumped in front of Thelian in a defensive stance, drawing his bow, and slowly approaching the ruins.
A huge, evil-looking figure was towering amid them, holding some corpse. He clutched his bow tighter, and prepared an arrow on its bowstring, but Thelian's hand on his arm pushed it down. "There is no evil about this stranger. Put the bow down, Amlan."
"It looks dangerous..." Amlan said silently, but listened to her advice, and his hands with the arrow sunk down. Instead, he made a step forth, towards the strange creature. "Who are you, and what is your business here?" he cried out, still partly covering Thelian.
Aurael screamed and jumped backwards, startled by the person she hadn't seen. She looked between the two people now seeing the girl behind Amlan, and began to panic.
"I-I-I didn't... I-I-I'm not... I-I-I-I didn't kill her.... I-I-I'm not a monster..." The stress of being seen holding a burnt corpse and looking suspicious broke her conscience, and she broke down crying. She dropped the corpse and ran away sobbing loudly, the ground shaking under the slow rhythmic beat of her footsteps.
In spite of the fact she was running, she would easily be outpaced even by humans, so these two elves wouldn't have trouble following her back to the tomb she had once been entrapped in.
"Wait! Don't run!" Thelian called out, pushing Amlan aside and chasing after Aurael. "We want no harm!" Her long dress was trembling in the wind, as she ran through the ruins, and it waved behind her like a banner, caught in the currents of air.
Amlan quickly returned the bow to its place on his back and bolted after the two. "Thelian, stop! You don't know what it can be!" he shouted, leaping from one stone to another, far faster than any human ever would be. Thelian glanced over her shoulder for a short moment, but didn't stop running. Both of them soon caught up with Aurael, without a problem in keeping up with her slow speed.
"Please, don't run! We don't want to hurt you!" Thelian spoke again.
Aurael continued to run, upset that the man thought she was dangerous and a monster. Drops of lava that were her tears dropped on the floor, and provided a very obvious trail to follow as she fled into her tomb, knowing that the huge, dark room she was now sat in was her safe room.
Of course, the fact that the front wall was missing and her glowing red body was dreadfully obvious even in the gloom of her home.
"Don't look at me, I'm just a monster... Ask your friend there, he'll tell you how much I'm a monster..."
Thelian, closely followed by Amlan, slowed down as she approached the tomb, and carefully stepped inside. "I'm sorry for scaring you. Are you alright? Please, don't run from us... He was just surprised." she called out calmly.
Amlan put one arm over her shoulders in an attempt to protect her from whatever would possibly try to attack her, but he was only eyeing Aurael with interest, not threat, or horror. Thelian didn't consider her harmful... And after a while of thinking, neither did he.
"He thinks I'm a monster, and he's right..." Aurael felt hurt by the way the man had acted.
"Everyone who looks at me just sees me as a murderous monster. I've never knowingly killed anything, and I never want to!" Aurael continued crying, streams of lava pouring from her eyes. She had spent so long convincing herself that she wasn't a huge, demonic-looking monster, and now it was all undone.
With a shake of her head, Thelian stepped deeper into the dungeon. "I don't see a monster." she said silently. Physical appearances were unimportant - they were in no way a good reflection of someone, and only led to prejudice and false pride.
Amlan, no longer holding his bow, let go off Thelian, and nodded, following her. "Monsters are those that act like monstrosities. And to be honest, you don't feel like that."
"I don't act in any way at all. I wander Fell daily, just trying to make friends. But no-one wants to be my friend, because of what I look like. Most of the time, they run away. I wish I could die, but I'm invincible. I can't die." Aurael lamented, mostly to the woman, as she seemed more compassionate.
"I don't want to be alone for the rest of eternity."
"Appearances aren't important. Fell... Fell is empty and dead. There isn't a reason to linger here... If you really want friends, maybe it would be better to get the courage to leave this place and wander somewhere else. You won't find anyone in Fell." Thelian said, sadly shaking her head. Amlan remained silent, watching her, more from interest than that he'd feel threatened.
"And those outside of Fell will attack me, try to kill me, and fear me because of my appearance!" She argued back. "Why do you care anyway? I see you here often, but it's sometimes hard to notice me, some of the local wildlife is pretty loud."
"If you can't be killed, they why do you worry about them? There isn't a reason. Convince them that you are no monster." Thelian replied with a soft shrug.
"You're only finding excuses for remaining here... If you really wanted to make some friends, then you would have already left this place and done so. Seems like you don't want them enough." Amlan finally broke his silence, crossing his arms on his chest.
"I didn't choose to be like this! You're a dick!" She exclaimed to Amlan, clearly offended by what he had said. "You're like everyone else I've met! You will find any reason to hurt and offend me because I'm different! I didn't choose to live for thousands of years!" Aurael let more lava stream down her face, a small pool of rock forming when the tears were solidifying on the ground.
"I want to feel like I used to. To feel normal."
Amlan scoffed. "All just empty excuses. I don't care whether you're different, or not, but you see obstacles in your way which don't actually exist. And so you hide in fear... Am I not right? It's called cowardice. And cowards are weak."
Thelian sighed at his words. He was pointlessly hard at this creature...
Aurael decided that she had to prove a very obvious point. She rose to her full height, letting the fires in her core burn brightly, spewing off columns of black smoke, while she lashed her tail at the walls, tearing huge chunks out of the stone.
She took a heavy, thunderous step towards Amlan, and roared at him, picking him up in one hand. Her eyes glowed with orange light, and she let out a low, guttural growl.
"I am no coward. I have nothing to fear because I embody the fear of others. I appear to others as nothing but death and despair. I cannot die. I cannot end. I will outlive even you Elf."
Amlan shrugged, unmoved by what was before him, and Thelian didn't flinch, either. "You don't really appear that fearful once you're spoken to." he shrugged, examining her form carefully. It was huge, and may seem terrifying to someone that would be afraid, but both of the elves knew very well that appearances were just a lie.
"Fear is nonexistent. It cannot exist in the present - fear is a thing of the future, and therefore, is naught." Thelian spoke calmly.
Aurael saw that her charade was pointless, and sighed. "Come, let me show you something."
She stepped out into the world, when a bird startled and flew across her face, and she screamed, surprised by the surprise bird attack.
"Stupid birds! Scared me."
The edges of Amlan's mouth flew up in a smirk for a short moment, before sinking back to the steel-hard, cold expression he usually had. "You seem more scared than scary." he uttered.
Thelian came closer to Aurael. "What do you want to show us?" she asked.
"Grrrrh." She huffed, plodding ahead like a monstrous T-rex, her tail swinging.
"The ruins of Fell have stood for thousands of years, and often, a brave soul dares to enter this cursed city. What they find, is death. Doom. Things lurk in this city that are more frightening to look upon for the first time than I am. But no-one, when they attack some of these beings, wonders how much of the original person is left. How human that thing still is." She continued walking through the ruins, and something appeared to prove her point.
A huge monster, as big as Aurael herself strode forward, and she instantly began growling, the feral mind of this fellow friend only understanding the basics of animal behaviour.
"I remember that person. They were once a romantic conquest of mine, but alas, it didn't work out. Now, he's the closest thing I have to a friend, and if I don't growl at him, he attacks me."
"You are still human in all but appearance." Thelian uttered, watching the encounter of the two. "You don't seem like a feral, mindless beast. And I am convinced that a way to reverse whatever happened that got you to this state exists."
Amlan frowned. "You should leave this place. If you are immortal and invincible, why fear to leave? There is a bigger chance that you'll encounter someone friendly if you stop lingering in this wasteland." he spoke, tilting his head aside.
"No such way exists. I am trapped in this form because of the curse that falls upon all who visit this place. Do you not know the curse of Fell?"
"Ah... The curse." Amlan peered somewhere into the distance. He didn't know how to respond to that... Even Thelian was silent.
"You have not felt it's effects?" Aurael was curious. She was curious as to whether the effects of the spell wore off on elves and other such beings. She knew that it did not affect immortals, such as gods and demons. But to not affect a mortal?
"My mother found a way how to protect me from the Fell's curse. Amlan is not a mage." Thelian answered her question. Her parents indeed did find a way to preserve Thelian's abilities and keep her unharmed by Fell, but how, even she didn't know.
"You are lucky then. Lucky that this has not affected you. But I cannot leave, for I cannot love another, or be accepted outside of these ruins. My fellow Variants need some form of hierarchy."
"Maybe we could find a way to protect you, too..." Thelian offered her, with a voice as soft as silk. Amlan gave her a nod. "There sure must exist a way."
"This form isn't a curse. This form is the scar the curse left on me. There is no reverse. I would have to be cured of the curse, and restored to my original form at the same time, and someone would have to continuously pump a lot of energy into keeping me human." Aurael sighed and saw a worrying sight. A dead deviant. A dead comrade.
"My powers aren't as small as you may think. I am convinced that there is a way! If a way exists to keep away the curse, then there is a way that reverses it. I believe it can be done. There is always a way... What is even your name?"
"I call myself Aurael now, it is the only suitable name that I could find." She knelt by the dead monster, which was bigger than her.
"Titan, what happened? Tell sister..." She began examining the corpse, clearly upset and disheartened.
"Aurael." Thelian bowed softly. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Thelian, and this is Amlan." The ranger gave her a swift bow of his head, but otherwise remained silent, watching Aurael's actions with caution.
Aurael gasped as she looked at Titan's corpse, then let out a solitary tear.
"I see the others hurt you... Oh, silly you... I'll miss you brother..."
The elf-maiden stepped closer, raising one white hand that came closer and touched Aurael's side. "I won't tell you not to weep... Not all tears are evil, my friend. But do not give up. Is this not the reason why we should try harder to get out of here?"
"He was a fair and gentle creature in life. The others, took a dark path, one of death and destruction."
Thelian shook her head softly. "I know fell well, Aurael. That is the way it has been... Is that not how it has fallen?"
"For destruction and pestering in chaos?" Amlan added.
"Not all of us fell to the darkness upon this place." Aurael stood, and walked beckoning for them to follow.
"I know of a place, but know not how to open it, or what lay inside. But I suspect, you two may know, or may not. What lays inside is anyone's guess however, it was there long before this city fell, and I fear it may have become dark and twisted with the curse upon this place."
Amlan drew his bow at the mention of such a place, but Thelian remained calm. "I knew a different dark force residing in this place. I am not afraid... Even now it is near, but concealed where it cannot escape from."
They both followed Aurael, Thelian walking with her usual grace, while Amlan took the more defensive stance of a ranger.
As Aurael walked the streets that had not crumbled, she stopped, hearing something roar to her left. Then from the right came the charge of a monster just as big as her, smashing it's way through a building as it tried to kill what it thought was prey, and the two monsters tumbled away, brawling in a rather nonsensical, primal way.
Amlan was immediately up at his feet, aiming an arrow at the other monster in the moment when it came near. "Halt, beast!" he shouted, bolting after it, and carefully letting the arrow go, aiming it into the other monster, while carefully avoiding Aurael herself.
Aurael brawled with the monster, and the arrow simply shattered on impact with the monster's invincible hide.
Then came the last resort, and Aurael punctured the monster's skull with her tail, spewing acid and ichor everywhere.
"Ragh."