Thread: ᴏɴᴇ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ, ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ғɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ [ ɢᴇᴍ x ᴡᴏʟᴢᴇʀᴇx ]

For a moment, Korm thought that maybe, just maybe his hopes wouldn't be disappointed. That maybe the faintest, sweetest dreams he'd barely dared to entertain over the course of 6 years might come true. He'd searched, and fought, and spent sleepless nights longing for her, her voice, her touch. Even after he'd given up hope after moving to Mekken, once in a great while a dream would visit his sleep. A dream where they were lying side by side on a hill side, looking up at the moon and telling each other stories about the stars. Those were the best and worst of nights. It was a dream that was so lovely, it couldn't be possible. But as he waited for an answer to his question, in those first few moments he felt hope begin to rise as it never had before. He so desperately just wanted to hear her voice, know for sure it was her, just like she used to be. Then that hope came crashing down as her visage changed. He listened in absolute stunned silence, his face a mask as her words flew out of her mouth like knives. Her gaze equally cut into him, and the rage came off of her in tangible waves. This was the type of anger that could only come from years of grief and hatred, the rawest and most brutal kind. Every accusatory word was like a slap to the face, and his heart distinctly felt every single one. But he stood there, and accepted it as she raged against him and his people. For in a way...he knew he deserved it. Korm had grown up on the streets of the small town he barely called home. His orc father, a drunk, had raised him at his earliest memories. He never knew anything about his mother. At age 8, his father died and he found himself on the streets. For a long time, he survived by stealing and living off of charity which was incredibly uncommon in orc society. Finally, when he was 12, he learned how to hunt. And that was how he began to support himself, both with food from the meat and by selling the furs and skins. It was a long, grueling process, especially during the winter. But eventually, he got a second job as a blacksmith apprentice. The blacksmith barely paid him anything, and worked him like a slave. But it gave him a skill, a trade, and whenever he had free time he would hunt in the woods. And that's how he met Elenial. She became the one source of light and kindness and friendship the young boy had ever known. Had she not come along when she did, he was on the brink of turning down the dark path of bitterness against the entire world. But she rescued him from that fate and became the one thing that he looked forward to in his life. Sometimes he even snuck away from his duties at the blacksmith which earned him a beating later to see her. The games they played, the stories they told, the things they planned...it was the most wonderful time of his life. They spent years that way, and it defined so much of the man he had become. Unfortunately, it was that singular focus that ruined any chance he had of saving her. He had so thoroughly detached from the society of orcs that he didn't care what the general news or business of their country might be. All he cared about their society was the skills he could still learn how to fight and how to be a blacksmith. When he wasn't doing those things, he was with Eli or waiting for her in the woods. And so when he woke up one night to see an entire army rushing across the border, he was taken completely by surprise. It shook his world to its core as he realized that the one person in his life who mattered was now in danger. He ran to where he knew her family home was, but he was far too late. From the woods, away from the fighting, he watched in agony as her home burned to the ground with no apparent survivors. Screaming up to the heavens, he wept for the first time in his life. And then...then a rage unlike anything he had ever felt took hold of him. Armed with nothing but a knife, he dove into the nearest skirmish he saw. The few elves that remained didn't stand a chance against the rampaging horde of orcs. Except for the ones Korm was able to reach that night. His memory of it was blurry at best, but he could distinctly remember the unrelenting fire that burned inside him that night. He was unstoppable as he threw himself at his orc brethren with abandon whenever he spotted some elven survivors that were fighting or running for their lives. He was a demon, fury incarnate, both orc and human parts of him having lost their soul to grief. He had woken up the next morning, the broken knife in one hand and a sword in the other. Seven fully armored orc warriors lay around him, torn to shreds. After that, his search began. Despite the fact that all logic and reason said she was dead, he still searched. For three long years, he travelled the entire country and searched everywhere. He managed to find a few survivors of the event, even one or two that remembered him. But none of them had been Elenial. It wasn't until after he had looked everywhere he could think of and undergone unbelievable hardship that he finally gave up. This were the memories that began to flash through his head unrelentingly as she spoke, and he relived every moment of it in a flash. And now he saw how life must have been for her. Now he knew with total clarity the loss she had suffered at the hands of his people. Now...his face could only ever remind her of that hardship, only ever be a token of the suffering she had had to undergo. As she drew closer and closer, and the flames in her hands began to get hotter, he felt his body stiffening. But he didn't pull away, even as his heart screamed at him to run away. It was breaking with every word she whipped him with, but what could he do? Deny it? How would she ever believe him after what she had experienced? He had always wanted nothing more than to protect her, and here she was accusing him of using years of friendship just to destroy her. He couldn't fathom how to even respond, not with his soul being torn apart. First his heart was breaking in grief for her, for her loss and loneliness that she had endured. But also for himself, as the one he had once loved now lashed out at him. But he couldn't blame her. When she finished, he took a slow deep breath, trying in vain to calm some of his emotions down. He opened his mouth once to try and speak, but nothing came out. Closing his eyes, he took another deep breath and tried again. Eli...I never meant to hurt you. Not once. When the attack came I...I couldn't do anything. I should have been more careful, I should have been able to warn you. But I couldn't. And for what happened to you and your family...I am so... He couldn't finish. His voice just trailed off and he clenched his jaw. What good would it do to say he was sorry? To say how he searched? To say how he wanted nothing more than to turn back the clock and be able to save her family, even if he had to give his own life to do it? None. It wouldn't do any good at all. She had lost everything to the half of himself that made him a monster. He had seen what an orc was capable of, and never in all the years he had travelled did he once tell anyone they were wrong for thinking he was a monster himself. He was half orc, so he knew that evil lurked inside of him. His face had sadness written on it, but the stonelike quality hadn't gone away. Only his eyes pled with her, sympathized with her, spoke of his desire to comfort her. Those clear, piercing blue orbs were the only part of him that could show just how much she still owned his heart.