Strands of hair were covering Aen’s face as he ran his hand over the tombstone’s surface. Drawing the words imprinted on stone with his finger, he heard himself whisper..
“In loving memory of Alleria Isilra,
Mother, grandmother and companion.
May Elune guide your path.”
Aen Isilra. A man of faith, a man of reason. A man devoted to serve the people, to guide them through the word of Elune. Not anymore. Click, click, click.. the sound of a prayer – the sound of his grandmother’s prayerbeads in his hand. He had found her this morning, asleep in bed, with the beads in her hands. Sleeping he thought.. but lost to him forever. Click, click, click.
As Aen looked around Moonglade, the afternoon was turning into nightfall. This was the final resting-place of his departed grandmother, Alleria. He called her that, grandmother. But she was both a father, mother and grandmother, being that Aen’s parents had left him as soon as he was born. Left at the stairs of the Stormwind Cathedral, he never got a chance to enter. Not until a few years later.
With a tear streaming down his face, he brought forth the memory of the evening that his grandmother told him how he was found.
The fireplace crackled as Aen put in another log, and stirred the stew Grandmother had made. Their cottage in Starbreeze Village was nothing big, but grand enough for two people to call it home.
Alleria was sitting by the table, sipping her cup of tea, prayerbeads in her hand. She always seemed to be carrying them around, black in color with white stars painted upon them, and in the middle, a silver crescent moon – the symbol of Elune. With her eyes on the bottom of the cup, she called Aen to her.
“Come here for a moment Aen,” she said with a slight hesitation in her voice.
Aen smiled at her while approaching the table, and finally sat down. Grandmother continued.
“Aen.. “, she said while taking his hands into hers, “did you know that today, at this exact hour, is the day I found you on the steps of the Stormwind Cathedral?”
Silence took hold of Aen.. but not surprise. As the years went by, more and more questions grew inside Aen, and each time he asked Grandmother about his parents, he was told that when he was of the right age he would know. Though he had never again brought up the subject, Aen knew in his heart that he was never going to see his parents again, and that most likely, he was abandoned as a child.
Grandmother gave him a sad smile, took a deep breath, and continued.
“18 years ago, in human years mind, I lived in Stormwind, working for the priests there. Nothing big mind, just helping out in the Cathedral in general. That evening though, as I was heading out the door, I stumbled upon a bundle barely moving, with eyes as yellow as the sun. That was you Aen.”
Taking a sip of her tea, she struggled to find the words, but went on.
“Now you see.. the right thing to have done would have been to take you to the orphanage. But.. a few months earlier I had lost my dear husband, Baenar, to the plague. He was stationed in what now is known as the Western Plaguelands, as a priest serving the soldiers in the field. This necklace you see in my hand belonged to him.
I was all alone.. and Elune forgive me, but I decided to take you with me. My family of elven kin had long since departed this world. I was the only one left of the Isilra clan. Still one problem remained – if someone saw me with you they would start asking questions. So there and then.. I decided to leave Stormwind, and return to where I was born, Starbreeze Village. My family’s cottage was still there, and needed fixing, but as you can now see..it’s home.”
Grandmother was a woman of much faith, following the rituals of her people, the people of Elune. Every night she sang in praise to the gods, lit her candles, and silently prayed. So why.. why this?
Aen shook in anger as he got up from the ground. With the prayerbeads in his hands, he felt a change occur. He felt the world twist, he felt everything change. Consumed with rage, new thoughts entered his mind. Ideas, senses, of how to twist his healing knowledge to something darker..damaging, took place within him. Suddenly a purple dark aura surrounded Aen, and his normally yellow eyes turned to a darker shade of red.
In his other hand, he held a vial. A vial, that according to the alchemists in Stormwind, contained a rare poison. A vial that he first noticed when going down on his knees, sobbing, by his grandmother’s bed. Someone had done this to him, to her.
That someone would pay dearly. That someone would suffer.
Putting on his grandmother’s necklace, and grabbing his cloak, he mounted his saber and took one last look at the tombstone, and whispered silently.
“In loving memory of Alleria Isilra,
Mother, grandmother and companion.
May Elune guide your path.”
