Hunger-Strike!

A peaceful breeze filters through a veil of vines. The echoes of combat, and constant back and forth of powerful few versus unseasoned many are a distant whisper. The tribal lulls of troll drums beat to the sound of gnomish demise, as a dwarf and his small hunter's caravan stare obliviously on. The tedium, and ever present peril seems to not end as the warm breeze drifts up into the canopy of the Stranglethorn jungle, and rolls over tree tops to kiss the obsidian cheek of a lone Draenei male some distance down the coast.

The Draenei stands upright. The brim of a great brown hat dips low to conceal most of his facial features, save the radiant blue glow that escapes from beneath it. His gaze remains fixed upon the crystal-green waters streched before his hooves. Any on-looker might be fooled into thinking he's but a simple statue. A simple, broad shouldered, nine foot tall statue holding a fishing pole.

The wooden bobber dips beneath the water's surface. The black statue slowly moves his arm from his side to where his other hand is locked firm on the fishing pole. In one deliberate grasp he halts the spinning reel. The lazy transparent line goes taught, strains, and then snaps. A sigh escapes a crease above a patch of course ash hair upon the draenei's chin as he reels in another snapped line.

Almost immediately a childish cackles rustles the bushes at the draenei's back. His lower lip puffs out slightly, as he quirks a brow, and looks slowly over his shoulder. He waits. Nothing. Then another flurry of obnoxious high-pitched laughter errupts from behind the bushes. The draenei turns slowly around, and inches slowly toward the shrubbery. He keeps his head low, tightens both hands around the base of the fishing pole, and raises it up to his shoulder poised and ready to attack his accoster.

"Ahahahahaha, eehehehe!" The laughter persists.

The Draenei peers through the brush to spot a bloodelf male, if you can call them that, on his hands and knees. The bloodelf's slender fingers grip some mysterious glimmering device. The draenei leans forward to better analyze the bloodelf's actions.

The bloodelf's knees seem firmly planted in a patch of green, his face hovers over a mound of brown. He uses one hand to keep himself upright, the other moves his compound of glass and steel over the dirt pile. A small dot of light is produced under the device, and the elf begins to trace it along the mound. He stops it on a skittering ant, and instantly ignites the poor creature. As a puff of smoke rises to his nostrils he lets out another cackle.

"Your petty existance is no match for the might of Cephero... The Mighty and Cruel! Run creatures, for Cephero's judgement is upon you!" Rants the elf.

After a few more puffs of smoke raise from the mound he rocks back onto his knees, thrusts his arms to the side, and points his face to the sky. More meniacal laughter ensues. Finally he looks off to the side, where a black hawkstri... chocobo sits grooming his feathers with his beak.

"Today this ant hill, tomorrow Azeroth, Darky-Shadowblack."

The chocobo looks from his glistening black coat, to the kneeling bloodelf, and lets out a resounding "Wark!"

"Oh Darky, You're the only one who gets me."

The draenei, watching the exchange from the bushes, is reminded of a conversation between himself and a mage friend that had him guessing as to the flavor of Chocobo.

"Eet luuk like cheekin." The Draenei thinks to himself. "But ees ten-times as beeg. Wheech mens... eet test... twelve times as guud." Blue sparks ignite from beneath the brim of his floppy leather hat, as he reaches for his hammer. Finding nothing at his waste he readies the fishing pole... go time!

To be continued...

When last we met our hero, he was fishing in Stranglethorn Vale, a tyrannical bloodelf was plotting and carrying out a plan responsible for the demise of BILLIONS! (of ants). He had reached for his hammer to thwart said doer of not-niceness and came up with only his rod and reel. Let's see how he fares.



Hunger-Strike! Part Two!

"Whzzzzzzzzz!" The fishing pole flew through the air, it's translucent line ribboning in tow. The heavy base hit Cephero directly upon his temple with a resounding 'Thwack!' Already on his knees, Cephero, twirled onto his back and hit with enough force to blow the air out his lungs.

Defender of life, good, and beater of all things girly and bloodelven, the draenei rushed from the bushes shifting his shield from his back and onto his forearm. Cephero lay prone, his legs tucked halfway to his chest as his hands searched for a weapon, any weapon. They found the mesh of glass and steel that had tormented the ant hill. As the massive draenei, larger than most he'd seen, lumbered toward him he thrust the object upward. It caught a beam of sunlight, and reflected it into the draenei's eyes. A price was payed however, a thin bead of light had made it through the glass and seared a dot of flesh on Cephero's head.

Cephero writhed on the ground howling in pain, "The Liiiight, it burns!" He cried. It was a good sign, he had regained his breath.

"Geet up." The voice was as cold as the stone-etched lips that had produced it.

Cephero obeyed the voice and rose to his feet. He dusted off the glimmering black leather on his thighs, and flung the angelic locks of his white hair behind his shoulder with the flick of his wrist and bob of his neck.

He drew from his back a rapier twice the length of his arm, and gripped it in two hands.

"Normally I would wave at you to show I've no agenda of killing you, until of course the prospect of vast numbers were at my side and as such had guarantees of effortless victory over you. But... you've already felt the waves of my most permeable and EEEEVIL aura... of evil... and as such may have come to realize my plans of conquest and victory over all life. For... revenge ya know... sob story and such about our old highelf status and whatever." The long-winded Cephero waved a hand dismissing the last portion of his own ranting.

"Ectually... I hed seemply wondered whot you Chocobo test like." The obsidian goliath responded in his thickly accented tongue.

"Darky Shadowblack?! The most devoutly EEVIL of my devout servants? I would never allow you to eat him! Also... for legal reasons that shall remain unnamed, you should cease referring to them as 'Chocobos'. Any resemblance they share to creatures from other planes of existence outside of our own is strictly coincidental." Cephero's words were met by the draenei's blank stare, and still he continued "Similar unnamed legal reasons also forced the gods of our world to change my most destined and sinister name from something else to my delishly evil current name." Blank stare. "Also... any resemblance I possess to certain beings outsi..."

Thwack! Cephero's rapidly moving jowls were met by a large cylinder of steel that ricocheted off and clanged it's way into some bushes.

Tears streamed from Cephero's eyes as he charged toward the black mass before him. He swung the large blade and heard only a 'ting' as the blade glanced of the chizzled stone shoulder of the Draenei. He felt a shock of pain resonate back through his blade and into his chest. It appeared the draenei had an aura his own.

"Hmp! A paladin I see. My evil intellect, and own mastery of the borrowed light have deduced this. For you see, I am... a bloodknight! Yes, Paladin of the Light, I am..." Dramatic Pause. "your nemesis."

Before the last syllable could fully roll off his tongue an onyx cluster of knuckles barreled into his face. Cephero recoiled once more his face racked with pain.

"No talk, fight." The giant was seeming less like rock, and more like steel to Cephero. Both in temperature, and toughness.

Cephero readied another rant for accepting the battle until he looked up at the great obsidian wall before him, ready to strike. He narrowed down his rant to one shouted word.

"Diiiiiiie!"

Cephero hefted his ridiculously large weapon over his head, and concentrated all his energies into it. The resulting swing might do something more than slice... if it hit at all.

"Taste the sting of my Sealed Command!" He brought the sword down toward the Draenei, only to be off by two slight inches, and hit only dirt.

The draenei looked at the weapon, then to the Cephero, and then unleashed another punch... both his fist and righteousness struck true, and then again. Cephero tumbled back, his feet went over his head, and his head ended up again. His back struck a tree, black crept into the corners of his vision and then consumed all his sight.

The Draenei looked at the sleeping Cephero, and then quirked a brow. He looked to his fists and once more at Cephero. As the draenei stood a bit awe struck with how easily such an 'evil' bloodelf had went down a dark shadow crept up on him. The shadow eclipsed the tinsels of light that made way through the canopy and eventually the canopy itself. A stretched distorted avian image seemed to reach to the sky, two burning embers at the top fixed themselves on the Draenei.

"Wark!" The shadow echoed.

The draenei slowly turned around. His own burning blue eyes met level with the Choco... Hawkstrider's.

"Wark!" The hawkstrider let out it's shrill battle cry as it's beak split wind and rapidly made it's way to the draenei.

The draenei raised both hands before him, and stopped the beak dead. He maintained his grip, slid his hind leg back to brace himself, and tensed his muscles. The force from the hawkstrider was still pushing him back. Ground parted as his hooves slid back through the soil. As the draenei was slowing he shifted his weight, and the hawkstrider's momentum. He jerked to the side, plucking the hawkstrider from the ground, and continued spinning. It wasn't long before the hawkstrider's body was parallel to the ground. As the momentum increased, the jungles surrounding them became a blur of green, and brown. Finally the draenei released his grip and the hawkstrider spiraled through the air.

The hawkstrider crashed through several sapplings, some brush, and finally bounced to a halt many feet from the draenei.

The draenei was rushing toward the grounded hawkstrider like a steam tram. The hawkstrider was to his feet and ready to strike long before the draenei, fast as he was, had closed the distance. It lashed out twice, both hitting their target, and neither slowing the draenei's movement. He tackled the hawkstrider, and both rolled a few more feet exchanged blows, and rolling back. Eventually the two seperated, and rolled up to their feet. Once more they charged eachother. This time the hawkstrider leaped into the air and pinned the draenei to the ground under its talons. It spread it's beak and glared at the draenei.

Something shimmered under a nearby bush, the draenei shifted his eyes to see what it was. He noticed the round silver form of his shield. The runes gleamed around the edge as he strained to reach it. The hawkstrider drew it's head back and struck. The draenei quickly rolled out from it's grasp, grabbed his shield and brought it swiftly down upon the back of the hawkstrider's head with both arms. The force of the blow almost burried the creature.

The draenei took a moment to gather himself, and then slid his shield onto his back. He walked toward the hawkstrider. It's tongue lolled outside its mouth, and its chest heaved gently. It was unconscious but wouldn't be for long, at least not as long as its master.

The draenei worked quickly. He found his fishing pole, and unraveled the reel. He quickly bound the hawkstrider's feet using the entire roll. With the hawkstrider incapacitated he began going through the saddle bag that had detached itself from the hawkstrider in their battle. He sifted through all manner of belongings until his fingers felt cloth, without thinking he found himself pulling it from the bag.

A long dress of red, blue, and gold revealed itself. The draenei looked at the elf with a confused look, and then sighed. He stuffed the dress back in the bag, and slung it over his shoulder. He then grabbed the hawkstrider by its talons, slung it over his other shoulder, and wandered back off through the jungle whence he came.

Several hours later...

Cephero rose to his feet, still groggy with visions of a great obsidian avalanche, and holy fury trailing behind it. He then patted down his chest, happy to see himself whole.

"Hahaha!" His cackle was as shrill and callow as ever. "That'll teach that draenei to mess with the likes of Cephero, The Mighty and Cruel! Eh Darky?" Cephero looked around. "Darky?"

The only signs of his former steed his blurred vision could detect were a few black feathers scattered about. Cephero crawled along the ground in a zigzag picking up each feather he could. After a few moments he sat back on his feet, hugged the pile of down, and sobbed uncontrollably.

"Darky Shadowblack... you shall be... avenged! Today I swear a new vow... I am no longer the bloodelf known as Cephero the Mighty and Cruel. To symbolize your death... I shall evolve into an entirely different being... cast off this petty bloodelf guise! I will be the Birdelf known as Cephero the Mightier, and More Cruel! By my wondrous locks of hair I swear!"