(RP) Journeys, Part 6
Table of Contents
- Part One is located here: link
- Part Two is located here: link
- Part Three is located here: link
- Part Four is located here: link
- Part Five is located here: link
- Part Six begins below:
Mathrengyl Bearwalker smiles, ever so imperceptibly, as Byaghro walks up the ramp. This young Druid certainly was unique. Few others ever managed to return so quickly from the first trial.
Byaghro bows as she approaches, “I have completed the first task. The Great Bear and the spirit of Lunaclaw have given their blessings. I am ready to begin my studies as a Druid of the Claw.”
“And so you shall.”
Byaghro sits in meditation. The forces of nature herself flow throughout Byaghro’s body, filling her with a volatile intermingling of personal thoughts and feelings with the ebb and flow of raw power. Byaghro could not lose her concentration, subsequently losing the tenuous balance within, or she would surely be ripped apart.
In a hushed voice Mathrengyl offers guidance, “Good. Feel the strength and power of nature course throughout your body. Embrace it, yet always balance it with your strength lest nature overcome you. When you are ready, call upon the Great Bear for its aid.”
Moments pass quietly by. Mathrengyl watches patiently. One of the most important things for a Druid to master is the ability to maintain inner balance at all times. When calling upon the forces of nature the loss of oneself is entirely possible, and many aspiring Druids have been lost because of their inability to maintain that balance.
With a roar that practically shakes the ground around them, Byaghro begins to shapeshift. Her skin rips apart as muscles grow to sizes that cannot be contained within her current form. Her eyes snap open, her face twisted in pain at the unexpected sensations tearing apart and rebuilding her body. She snarls as claws break through the skin on hr hands and feet.
“Keep your focus. The pain is unexpected by all the first time, but it will pass quickly,” calls out Mathrengyl, “You must not lose sight of yourself during the transformation. If you do you will become consumed, destined to remain in a feral state for the rest of your natural life.”
As Byaghro’s transformation into a bear completes she roars with a ferociousness that startles even Mathrengyl. Then, as quickly as it began, the shapeshifting is over. Byaghro walks around for a moment, feeling the true power of the bear as a part of herself instead of simply a guest. She admires the grace with which she can move, even as such a large creature. Walking over toward Mathrengyl she stops and raises one paw to gently touch his shoulder, reassuring him that she was indeed still aware of herself.
“Take a few moments to explore your newly acquired abilities. There will be many things that you learn as time passes, but the basics of understanding how to apply all that you know from combat to fighting as a spirit of nature must be mastered before we can proceed further. Go, help Raene combat the corruption of the Furbolg camps outside Dolanaar, and return to me when you are ready to continue.”
Byaghro nods her understanding. She starts to turn and run toward the path that runs from Darnassus to Dolanaar only to stop and turn back to face Mathrengyl. Her massive, feral body shrinks in size as she shifts back into her elven form, crying out in pain as the claws are retracted back into her hands.
“I have one question before I go, if I may,” says Byaghro.
“Certainly. You will undoubtedly have many more as we continue your training, and part of my responsibility to you is to provide as much knowledge and insight as I can to all aspects of our life. Ask your question, Byaghro,” replies Mathrengyl.
“I have seen others shift almost instantaneously, yet it took me some time to shift..,” begins Byaghro.
Mathrengyl interrupts her quietly, “In time you will understand completely. For now you must focus on retaining who you are when calling upon the forces of nature so that you are not lost to the wild fury, the complete overwhelming of yourself by the feral nature of the spirits we call upon.”
Byaghro nods. She certainly understood the threat. The effort it took to not lose her grasp on her mind during the shapeshifting was draining, both physically and mentally. She turns to head to Dolanaar, and as she passes though the gates of Darnassus she breaks into an all-out sprint. As she runs she focuses her mind, preparing to call upon the spirit of the bear once more.
‘Patience is important, that I understand, but I must be able to control the ability to shift at will.’
With that thought echoing in her mind, Byaghro leaps forward as she calls upon the spirit of the bear. The pain that shoots through her body is almost overwhelming as the transformation takes place, and as she lands she cries out in an effort to force the pain out of focus. Panting heavily, however, she smiles inwardly at her successful shifting while in midair, and with a roar she charges forward into the wilderness.
Disclaimer: While the events in this series will be based upon the World of Warcraft universe in general, this is purely fiction and will certainly have a number of liberties taken that would not make sense if attempting to draw correlations to the actual in-game lore and events. This will also be an attempt to complete one RP series from start to finish instead of leaving a number of random, open series left unfinished. Also worth noting is that I am going back to the beginning, when Byaghro was created, and moving forward through “vanilla” WoW, through the Burning Crusade, and on into Wrath to tell her entire story. Many details are vague in my memory at this point, and as a result I will be taking even more liberties with older content in bringing this story to fruition.
