Vandas tried to ignore the sounds coming from outside his window, he knew what they were and the reason behind them, no need to look outside. The screams, the rumble of buildings collapsing, his fair city of Silvermoon was being dismantled, as was its citizens. He turned another page in his spell book, trying to keep his hands from shaking. His long blonde hair was in disarray, sweat and dirt had ruined its shine. The same could be said for his usually spotless vibrant blue robe, now torn and blood stained. The room was his study, high up in one of the city's many towers, for generations owned by his family. Now he would be the last of his line to set foot in it. He knew of no relatives still alive, the sudden onslaught of the Scourge had taken half his line out within a few days. Now, only he and his wife remained. Thinking of his wife made him look towards the bench where she sat, head in her hands.
Lorielle was dressed in her leather armour, also torn and blood stained, with her bow resting beside her against the wall. She was bleeding from several wounds, although she'd patched up the worst ones. She looked up with her fiery hair covering much of her face, it was a beautiful face even with the dirt, blood and tears. The look she gave him almost made Vandas choke with sorrow, he quickly turned back to his book and swallowed his tears. He needed to find a way to stop this madness, to save his city and his wife. He was an accomplished magister with many decades of experience, what was there in the world of magic that he couldn't use? And somewhere in that world there was a spell to end the invasion, he just needed to find it.
Lorielle stood up with a grim expression on her face and grabbed her bow. "Can't you hear the sounds? Can't you smell the death in the air? That's our land and city they're destroying out there, we can't just sit here!" She kicked the bench over to emphasise her point, but Vandas barely blinked and didn't stop his searching. With a few long steps, she stormed up to him and dragged him away from the book. "Damn you and your aristocratic calm, do you have any feelings at all!?"
Vandas frowned and pushed her away. "What do you want from me!? I'm trying to save us all, do you think I'm standing here reading poetry?" Lorielle returned the frown and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I won't sit here doing nothing, I can still fight. I'm not a prize for you to protect or save." She turned to leave the tower but Vandas grabbed hold of her arm. "This battle is over, either I defeat the invasion here and now or we all die." Lorielle looked back at her husband with clear disdain in her eyes, shaking her head. "Are you listening to yourself? You could've helped in the battle instead of standing here bathed in your own arrogance. I don't know you any more and I won't die with you." Pulling her arm free from his grasp, she made her way towards the door. Vandas was torn between anger and sorrow, he wasn't sure what had happened or why, but he knew he had to continue his work if his city was to be saved. Lorielle would see sense in the aftermath when he was the saviour of Silvermoon city and the kingdom.
The tower shook violently as chunks of its base were ripped off by the macabre siege engines of the Scourge. The floor instantly felt like water, not able to support the weight of Vandas' body. He struggled to remain standing but as the tower slowly began to slump to one side he fell towards his desk. Clinging onto the furniture with all his might, he looked for Lorielle, finding her hanging from the door frame, which was now in what he perceived as the ceiling of the room. The descent of the tower must have taken only seconds, but to Vandas it felt like a lifetime. He stretched out a hand towards his wife. "Let go, I'll catch you! I'll get us out of here!" Lorielle let go of the door frame and caught hold of his arm as she fell. The spell came to him easily, the only spell he knew that would have any chance of success. He formulated the intricate spell in his mind, teleporting required that you knew your destination, but this time he was forced to simply put the destination as "safely away from here".
He looked into Lorielle's eyes as he finished the spell, in the background the ground was almost upon them. A sudden and extreme sense of vertigo assaulted him as everything around him changed. His vision blurred, he could feel grass on his face and hands, the ringing in his ears drowned out any sounds. The first thing he saw as his vision cleared was the burning and crumbling ruins of Silvermoon, he was standing on a hill far from the city. The sight tore at him, it was like staring at his own corpse. He looked away, trying to find his wife. The grassy hill was clear with only a few trees here and there obscuring the view, but there was no sign of Lorielle. Doubt gnawed at his mind, had he let go, had she let go, maybe the spell had simply sent them to different places, it was hasty and ill-prepared after all. Clinging to this hope, he still couldn't shake the feeling that she was dead.
The dying city caught his attention again. With each new fire started, each tower collapsed, he felt himself grow more distant. His anger and sorrow gave way to cold determination. As his life lay in tatters around him, only one question stirred his soul.
Why?
