All that glitters ...
She held the glittering crystal in her hand, gently turning it over and over again in her fingers. The soft purple light shimmered in its depths, sending sparkles dancing across the room like amethyst fireflies.
"It's a soul shard, Mezzy."
The little warlock nodded once, casting a glance to her silent companion. Her head tilted, as if listening to some unspoken response.
"That's right ... it's a shard ... a piece, a fragment, a sliver ... a portion of a person's soul."
She handled the gem with care, a dark gem, a tool of her trade, but never something to be taken for granted.
"I don't know Mezzy. I leave that for the clergy in Stormwind, the monks in Exodar. But this ... this I know. Pieces of a life.
"I think, I think maybe there's a reason why a soul can only be shattered. There must be, else somewhere some warlock would have figured how to rip a soul out whole by now.
"But maybe, just maybe, it is why the priests can draw us back from the spirit plane, how Lady Prestor can claw her way back from beneath her bog bound mountain.
"Perhaps the strongest of magics, the shaprest talon, the brightest sword, they can only shear away a shard of a soul. Just a piece, the thinnest of slices. And that as long as that last sliver is not taken from you the priests have something to bring you back with, you have a beacon to guide your way back from the spirit realm, an anchor to your life.
"It is when that last fragment is finally torn from you ... that is when you pass from here never to return."
The little warlock was quiet for a long while at that.
"No Mezzy. I'm not planning on that for a long while, and I would hope I would trade that last part of me for something dear.
"But it would explain a lot. Why some people get meaner when they get older ... why some are more easily tempted by the dark, are more apt to be tempted by the path of madness as they rise in power.
"For to stay true against the slow loss of one's soul, bit by bit, piece by piece ... shard by shard ...
"It must take a tremendous heart."
There has always been a tremendous debate, on how one can resolve the mechanics of the Warcraft game and the fantasy world environment. Many chose to ignore the in game play as if it never happens - and not have to deal with those character building but uncomfortable situations.
ReplyDeleteI could never understand that. Sure, it can be called roleplay, but it can't be called roleplay in the World of Warcraft. That's stepping into a role upon this world, all of it, not just the parts you like.
This is simply Nelli's view of those issues.
Nelli is wise beyond her stature. This a wonderfully philosophical explanation, I think.
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