Musings of an Azeroth Mage Book 3

Musings of an Azeroth Mage
 * - ''by Archin

-9-
And so, I have done it. I have left Dalaran.  I have thrown away over twenty-five years of my life.  And I dont regret it. I fear it, but I do not regret it.  That arrogant worm Higord, trying to muscle me around and make my personal decisions for me. I would have expected that he would respect my decisions a bit more, but clearly I was wrong.  I should have known better. I should have known that a superior Mage would never consider the situation or beliefs of an inferior Mage.  Inferior Mage!  The mere thought of being considered inferior burns in my chest with a fire that cannot be dispelled. Inferior Mage! If I was inferior, it was only because those blasted Mages were keeping me down!  The immediate aftermath of my leaving has not been felt, but I do feel that there will be reverberations from behind the dome, whether I am there or not. I was a man of some respect in the schools I was a respected and liked teacher perhaps the students will come to my aid. Perhaps the young people will rally around their cantankerous professor. Or perhaps, theyll be squelched by the Magocracy, much as their misguided teacher was.  In any event, I am on the outside now. Im an outsider. <BR> <BR>Never before in my life have I been considered or classified as an outsider. I dont like it, that is for sure. <BR> <BR>I did not have the courage to tell Yumeko of my leaving. I was worried what she would think of me. Would she think me a coward? Would she think I could not provide for the family now? Was there the off chance that she was attracted, not only to my person, but to my prestige as well? <BR> <BR>I cannot help but think these thoughts, though in my heart Im fairly certain that the aforementioned motive is not the case. <BR> <BR>Yumeko has been teaching me more of her ways. Shes been showing me the practices of the Warlocks and guiding me, as it were. Slowly, she has been teaching me the very wretched tongue that I originally hated: Demonic. Oddly enough, I catch on very quickly and after speaking it for a while it is somewhat beautiful. <BR> <BR>Can a tongue be wretched when there are words for love and dear? For even in Demonic, those words do exist. I feel a bit of a darkness slide over me when I speak the words of the Legion, I do admit, and I catch myself speaking Common to her whenever I have the chance. <BR> <BR>My native tongue instead of the Demons. <BR> <BR>Oh, but the smile upon her face as I speak to her in that newfound language. How happy she becomes! Through her happiness do I grow happy as well! Gazing upon her, watching as our child, be it male or female, grows within her brings such pride and hope to my heart! <BR> <BR>During the past few days, however, I have noticed an underlayer of Stormwind that I had never seen before. A dubious and treacherous layer of trouble that I find myself becoming increasingly mired in. <BR> <BR>Yumeko is a headstrong and capable woman. She is proud of her heritage, proud of her practices, and will not listen to anyone when it comes to controlling her demons. I try, oh how I try, not to speak Demonic in Stormwind with her, for it merely draws negative attention. Even if I am saying the sweetest of things to her, people cast downtrodden stares at us. <BR> <BR>As we exited the Jester the other evening, Yumeko uttered some words to me in Demonic, and we rapidly gathered some attention. An Order Ordo Hereticus, I believe that was their name, claimed they wished to arrest and inquisition Yumeko. <BR> <BR>Needless to say, I was not going to let my child and my companion be left in any danger. We were quickly surrounded by about four individuals, all of which stared at us like we were animals, not people! Standing my ground with my love, I argued each and every one of them down, until it was the two of us striding out of the Park. <BR> <BR>Bastards some individuals think theyre above the law. A Holy Order does not grant one the power of justice and jury. Logic, facts, and documents do! <BR> <BR>Nevertheless, on the evening of my newfound ouster from Dalaran, we had yet another run in with a group of religious zealots. My concern about speaking Demonic in public led us to a small, hidden tavern in the Mage District known as the Slaughtered Lamb. Unbeknownst to me, there was a crypt of some sorts beneath the tavern, and an entire Demonic Cult! <BR> <BR>I was uneasy and felt out of sorts. Why, just that morning I was striding down the pristine hallways of the Violet Citadel and that evening I was walking through a dank, rotten crypt full of burning pyres and demons! <BR> <BR>We encountered a peculiar trio that evening, a young girl, perhaps fifteen years of age, an older female, and a male who was dressed in a Priests garb but the shadow hung over him. The girl was sobbing in the corner as the other two leered over her, and Yumeko and I were quick to ask as to what was going on. <BR> <BR>I admit, I was torn. I wanted to call the guards, to get the authorities into the crypt and have arrests be made. But then, I remembered that just the other day I was nearly arrested by the very guards I would call. <BR> <BR>What a quandary what a change! <BR> <BR>As we sorted out the situation altogether, the crypt was stormed by another religious order, known as the Order of the Fiery Cross. Haughty and powerhungry, the brigands wanted to arrest the Priest without any proof! The charge: possession of the small girl in our presence. However, even the girl herself asked that he not be arrested! How can the proof, so to speak, speak against the authorities and yet the charge still stands?? <BR> <BR>Yumeko and I defended the priest and his companions. I argued reason and duty, I argued dignity and honor, but they did not listen to me. As Yumeko stepped forward, one of the guards slapped her. <BR> <BR>Slapped her! <BR> <BR>Flung into a rage, a grabbed the Night Elf guard by the collar and shook him, screaming in his face. <BR> <BR>It was a moment of great rage and weakness. <BR> <BR>I wanted to hit him, hit him with all the strength in my arm and my heart. I wanted to dash his skull against the floor and spill his cerebral matter across the crypt. But I didnt I I couldnt. <BR> <BR>Without the weight of Dalaran behind me what am I? Without the power and the prestige, I have no one to protect me from the unjust powers of Stormwind. Striking the man would have brought me great trouble <BR> <BR>I pray Yumeko does not fault me for not doing more I pray she does not hate me or see me a coward. <BR> <BR>As the situation spun more and more out of control, I opted on the side of caution and told Yumeko we were leaving. We were strangers, unsure of our surroundings, unsure of the players in this wretched game, and had no right to get in the way. Also, I did not want either of us arrested. <BR> <BR>With a young female mage and a bartender from the Jester, a good fellow named Ilmare, we found ourselves in the basement of the Jester talking about the nights events. <BR> <BR>Words like Heretics and The Other Side were used to describe us those that were being oppressed. <BR> <BR>Is Archin Brey a heretic? Is he part of the Other Side? Ive always been on THE side Stormwind, the Alliance, the Light <BR> <BR>now, I find myself shifting and yet, I do not mind. <BR> <BR>We slept on a bed, propped up by beer barrels at the bottom of the Jester. A Mage of Dalaran in the morning a homeless rogue Wizard by evening. <BR> <BR>But, as I lay in that bed and feel the warm skin of my love beside me I know I made the right decision. <BR> <BR>After all, Im Archin Brey. No matter who I am affiliated with, I always make the right decision! <BR>