Demonic Embrace

Dareum opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the relentless sun. The sun was rising, but the last thing he remembered was sunset, and then…the attack. Quickly, he attempted to sit up, and just as quickly returned to the ground when pain shot up his sides. His entire body felt sore, a dull ache spread across every inch. Turning his head, he tried to figure out where he was.

From the feel, he could tell that he was lying on sand. The sand itself was fine and cool, though the temperature would likely change to scorching as the day went on. Out to either side was an endless stretch of the pale, beige powder. The ocean was near, as Dareum figured from the gentle sound of waves rolling into shore. By now, it was obvious that he’d woken up on an island, but where was Orran? The warlock could see the remains of a fire to the left, nothing but a pile of charred wood, but the starter was nowhere to be found.

Slowly, Dareum attempted to sit again, pushing through the electric protest running through his muscles. A hand touched his shoulder and forced him to lie back down. Dareum obeyed, looking first at the pale hand and then up at its owner. It certainly wasn’t Orran, and his dazed mind took a few moments to place the face to a name. Finally, he spoke, startled at how weak his voice was.

“Aezlek?”

Dareum was back on the ground, staring up at the half-smiling demon above him. The demon bore a resemblance to the traditional succubus that practically all warlocks were capable of commanding, but this one was obviously male, an incubus. His body was reasonably human, as well as being reasonably attractive despite how stark his skin was. Like his succubus sisters, Aezlek bore two curved, purple horns sprouting from the top of his head, the bases of the spires obscured by fine, black hair. A pair of equally purple, but much more leathery, wings were attached somewhere near his shoulder blades, but they had been pulled as close together as possible. Shining blue eyes emitting a faintly creepy light were looking down at Dareum, apparently checking him over for injury. Dareum couldn’t tell, but Aezlek was wearing what amounted to leather shorts, leaving the rest of his body exposed.

“Why are you so surprised? You’re the one who summoned me last night.” Aezlek raised a black eyebrow, questioning his master’s mental capacity. Dareum only looked up at him in a dazed way, leaving Aezlek to sigh, exasperated. “You were pretty out of it then, so I guess it shouldn’t be different now. After summoning me underwater, which you should never, ever, do again, I managed to drag your warlock ass to this nice little island. You promptly coughed up a lungful of water and told me to get a fire going. When I got back from your little chore, you were asleep. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for, oh, nine hours?”

Dareum’s brain had begun to work again, but processing was still going slow. Aezlek was practically glaring at him as Dareum remained silent. Eventually, Dareum reached up an arm and patted Aezlek on the cheek twice, smiling weakly. “Good boy, Aezlek. You wouldn’t have happened to have found something to eat, would you?” Aezlek batted the jokingly dismissive hand away, turning away from Dareum and seeming to sort through things.

“Your food is completely water-logged, and in an inexplicable burst of kindness, I decided to look the island over for some source of food. You can thank me later.” Aezlek turned back, dropping an oblong fruit onto Dareum’s chest. The warlock wheezed at the impact, but removed the fruit, gazing at it. It was pink on one end and yellow on the other, like a misshapen peach. Tentatively, Dareum bit into it, filling his mouth with a pear-like consistency of wonderful sweetness. He swallowed the bite eagerly and smiled at Aezlek.

“Thank you, Aezlek.” Dareum tore into the fruit, suddenly feeling an enormous hunger after missing dinner and being dragged through the sea. Without having to ask the demon, Aezlek dropped two more egg-shaped fruits onto Dareum, who ate them hastily. When he was finished, Dareum remembered what had troubled him so much upon waking up. “Aezlek, did you find a Night Elf when you were walking around?”

“Should I have?”

“I…don’t know. I kind of pulled him off the ship before that priest destroyed it. I would have assumed that we’d find a place to wash up on together.” Dareum looked up at the cloudless sky, pondering Orran’s fate.

“Wash up? Didn’t you hear me? I said I dragged you!” Aezlek yelled, angered at his master’s disregard. He softened when, with a little laugh, Dareum reached his hand up again, lightly touching Aezlek’s cheek.

“I know, I know. Thanks for saving me.” The human laughed brightly, drawing his hand across Aezlek’s cheek slowly. He pulled his digits away, letting his hand drop back down to his side. “But, would you happen to know where, exactly, we are?”

“An island.”

“...alright. Do you know where we are in relation to the shipwreck?”

“Er…no.” Aezlek smiled sheepishly, uttering a nervous laugh. His master’s gaze had narrowed, Dareum keeping himself from hitting the incubus in anger. After all he’d taught the demon, he thought Aezlek would at least know enough to figure out the direction he swam from the boat. Before Dareum could ask the next question, Aezlek guessed it correctly. “I also don’t know how far I swam. We’re really ‘lost at sea’.” Another nervous laugh.

“You’re so clueless.” Dareum struggled to sit up, knocking Aezlek’s hand away when the demon tried to force him back down. His sides ached, but nothing hurt as sharp as a fracture should have. He was just a little battered and bruised. The robe he was wearing was still heavy with water and smelled like the sea, now that Dareum noticed. Dareum began removing it, rolling it up his body, up and over his head. He dropped the robe to the sand and felt at the rest of his clothes, which were also wet.

“God…” Dareum stood slowly, testing his legs. They were stable but sore, still strong enough to support him. He rose to his full height, dwarfed by several inches next to Aezlek. Quickly, Dareum pulled the soaking, skin tight shirt from his body, keeping it clenched in one hand. His pale torso was exposed to the harsh sun of the island, warmth flowing through him. He contemplated removing his still-wet pants as well, but thought against it. No need to make Aezlek uncomfortable and distracted in the given situation.

Dareum located a low hanging branch at the edge of the beach, hanging his heavy robe near the trunk and the lighter shirt farther out. Looking past the tree, Dareum could see that there were many more plants like it. The beach gave way to a forest, untouched by civilization until now. Strangely, he could hear no animal calls at all. The animals nearby were likely hiding from him and Aezlek, the former being an unknown animal and the latter reeking of something evil. Dareum left his drying clothes and returned to Aezlek on the beach.

“Alright, Aezlek, here’s what we have to do. Since we don’t know EXACTLY where we are, we’ll have to rely on general directions. Unless we stumbled through a portal, then Kalmidor is to the west and the Eastern Kingdoms to the east, obviously. From the ship’s path, the Maelstrom should be south-ish and Northrend north…ish. When we were attacked, the ship was already over halfway to Auberdine. We should be relatively closer to Kalimdor than to anywhere else, so I suggest we head west.” Dareum clasped his hands together, trying to stay upbeat. No matter how bleak and hopeless being on the tiny island seemed, Dareum wanted to be optimistic for once. Otherwise, he might as well kill himself and get the inevitable over with.

“What about your elf friend? You don’t want to look for him?” Aezlek’s tone did little to help raise Dareum’s spirits, being eternally cold. Dareum’s face weakened into concern over Orran and then hurt at not knowing where his companion was. The incubus flinched. “Sorry, Dareum. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I know you didn’t. But looking for Orran isn’t going to do anything. With luck, he’ll have swum somewhere and managed to keep his Hearthstone long enough to use it. It’d be impossible for us to track him, though it might be slightly easier for him to track us. Assuming he’s alive.” The warlock lowered his gaze, looking at Aezlek’s shadow in the sand. He saw the silhouette move and felt Aezlek’s hand on his shoulder.

“No matter what actually happens, the first step is getting off this island and moving west, right? Let’s stay here a day or two and let you fully recover. That’ll give the elf some time to try to find us, since you’re right; he’ll be better at tracking than either of us. If he shows up, great. If he doesn’t, he probably warped. You shouldn’t worry yourself about him.” The incubus moved his hand, gently pushing Dareum’s chin up to look into the human’s crystalline eyes. “For now, worry about getting enough food and getting shelter. Shall we?” Aezlek motioned towards the forest and Dareum nodded in response.


“Hmm? Are you waking up?” Someone was poking him with slender, feminine fingers. The jabs were light, pressing against his chest and arms. Orran turned his head away, groaning in protest. His eyes refused to open from sleep. Barely conscious, he started to roll over. “Hey! Don’t pretend that you can’t hear me!” The woman’s hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled back, jerking Orran into the bed and having him collide with the mattress roughly. He bolted awake.

“Dareum!” He shouted, staring up at a wooden ceiling. Dareum didn’t answer, meaning he’d gotten separated after their escape from the ship. But…he was in a ship. Beneath him, through the bed, Orran could feel the vessel rocking slowly and gently. It was a different boat, but a boat nonetheless. The druid sat up, hands keeping the sheets of the bed from uncovering his waist. His yellow eyes settled on a gentle, human face.

Her hair was long, amber in color, and pulled back into a thick pony tail stretching to the middle of her back. Cheery, inquisitive emerald eyes were prying into his own, studying the castaway. Orran could see that she was young, but certainly older than Dareum by anywhere from five to seven years. She seemed to be dressed in a tunic and plain pants reminiscent of a pirate/sailor. Her cat-like smile supported Orran’s suspicions.

“Who’s Dareum? Actually, first thing’s first. Who are you?” The woman moved gracefully, turning and sitting on the edge of Orran’s bed. Her disregard for his comfort made Orran nervous. She was beautiful and confident, moved like a thief and dressed like a sailor. She was most definitely a pirate.

“My name is Orran. May I-“

“Orran, hm? Would you happen to remember how you got on our ship?” The human didn’t skip a beat when she cut Orran off. Orran swallowed a lump in his throat. This woman was rather frightening.

“The ferry we…I was on was attacked. I fell off the edge of the ship and swam for my life. That’s all I remember.” Orran paused, waiting for her to talk again. When she didn’t, he felt a little more at ease. “Now, if-“

“Who attacked you? Surely you remember that, Orran.” Orran didn’t like her tone. It was mockingly condescending in a pseudo-playful way. He was nervous again.

“I don’t know. Some undead.”

“How was your ship destroyed?”

“A priest used a weird spell that shot holes through the hull.” Orran remembered the encounter, how Dareum had been virtually rooted in place until the last second. In his lengthy life, Orran had never seen such a spell, but Dareum seemed to recognize the destruction it would bring instantly. Maybe it was a human thing, or just something only apparent prodigies like Dareum would know about. Yes, the human interrogating him (for it was rather like being questioned by an officer) seemed to know what he was talking about.

“Good. That’s all I need to know for now, Orran. If I think of anything else, I’ll come ask.” The woman stood up, waved, and walked across the room. She pulled open a door and stepped out, closing it again. Orran heard a click moments later. He was locked in, not even knowing where he was.

He let out an exasperated sigh, beginning to search for his clothes. It appeared that whatever sailors staffed the ship had stripped him before putting him in bed, probably to check for weapons and make sure he didn’t die of cold (with the weapons being more important than his life). He found them, dry and folded on a desk. If they were pirates, they were pretty hospitable to their guests, which Orran began discovering quickly. Spare changes of clothes were stored in a dresser and a basketful of fruit had been set down on a low reading table. The room had a connecting bathroom, even if it was little more than a closed off latrine and washbin. Regardless, if this was how they treated prisoners, he could only imagine how well off the crew was.

In vain, Orran tried the door the woman had left through, which was definitely locked. Grabbing an apple from the basket, Orran started munching, standing in front of a portcullis and looking out at the sea. Initially, all he could see was blue, but Orran noted a few pieces of brown float by. More and more debris appeared and his position became clear. They were at rest above the shipwreck, salvaging whatever hadn’t been stolen by the undead from earlier.

Orran thought of Dareum, wanting to know where the warlock was. With spells to extend his breathing capacity underwater, Dareum had likely found somewhere to rest, especially with demonic muscle at his command. If he hadn’t, his body, unfortunately, wouldn’t be far and would be discovered soon. Orran had faith in Dareum’s self-preservation, not letting himself fall plague to doubt. Darem, in Orran’s mind, was fine. That left little to do other than wait for the pirates to let him out. And so, Orran stood at the window, watching the sea and eating placidly.

How was he supposed to know what kind of chaos he was embroiled in?