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Alleria Windrunner swept behind a voidstone pillar as the harrower’s claws missed her by a hair’s breadth. A brilliant lightning storm raged beyond the ridge, washing her and her quarry in bursts of cobalt-violet. Cracks of thunder split the air.
The hulking beast slammed into the porous stone with a deafening screech. Before it could recover its footing, Alleria fired several black-fletched arrows, and each met its mark with a wet thunk. The harrower threw its head back to howl, spraying her with bloodied spittle as it thrashed, and with a nerve-steadying exhale, she loosed one last arrow between its eyes. It staggered with another furious roar, then crashed to the ground.
Only when its membranous wings stopped twitching did she relax her stance.
As she knelt to inspect the creature, a rush of cold, charcoal-scented air whipped her braid over her shoulder. She spun, nocking an arrow once more to find plumes of deep shadows coalescing into a Domanaar’s form: their top half vaguely humanoid, shimmering blue and broad-set, their bottom half a shifting, swirling column of energies.
“Decimus,” Alleria said with a curt nod. They were taller than the last time she’d seen them, and she wondered whose misery they’d been feeding on.
“Ranger-Captain,” the Domanaar rumbled, bending at the waist to be eye-level with her. Their gaze wandered to the bow in her hands. “Have I caught you at an inopportune time?”
She stopped short of a sigh. “What do you need slain, Domanaar?”
“Oh, no, my dear. Nothing of the sort. I’d like to propose an arrangement of a more… personal nature.” Decimus twirled a hand skyward, and a tenebrous, glittering portal manifested. “Please, follow me.”
Against her better judgement, she did.
Alleria suppressed a shiver as the portal evaporated behind her with a whoop. The residual Void energies sent a familiar chill down her spine, leaving her fingers and toes half-frozen.
Decimus clasped their hands behind their back as the two of them walked to the back of a dim cavern. As she walked, anyway, and as Decimus… floated.
“So? What is it?” She stowed her weapon and placed a hand on her hips, her mail armour clinking in the quiet space.
“Hm. What is it you mortals say? Curiosity killed the mana wyrm, but…?”
Alleria clicked her tongue as she considered a response. Was this another trap, then? She turned on her heel. Curiosity had lured the mana wyrm, but that mana wyrm still had some sense.
At once, shadows swallowed the chamber’s exit, and her hair stood on end. Decimus’s voice whispered centimetres from the tip of her pointed ear.
“... But satisfaction brought it back?”
Without thinking, Alleria snatched up her bow and whirled on Decimus. In an instant, their form vapourised and reappeared several strides away, while her arrows cut through the smoke they left behind.
“Your spite! Delectable.” Their grin turned lazy, eyes half-lidded, as they fed on her outburst. “Patience, Ranger-Captain. I promise my offer is enticing.”
“Then speak,” she snapped back, gripping her bow tighter.
“I’ll skip your accolades, but you’ve endured tragedies that interest me greatly.” Decimus drifted as they spoke, and wisps of dark smoke dispersed in their wake. “Mortals do so love to gossip about others’ heartbreaks, did you know?”
“You’re hungry, is that it?” Alleria’s lip curled in disgust, and she kept an arrow trained on the centre of their chest. “Find another meal. My family’s suffering isn’t yours to savour.”
“I cannot help it. It is my nature to consume others’ suffering, as it is yours to enjoy a filling meal of….” They came to a halt, squinting past her, as if struggling to recall a word. “Bread.”
She couldn’t help but snort. Suffering. Bread. Who could tell the difference?
“Yes, yes, laugh. You’d struggle to describe my methods of drawing sustenance, wouldn’t you?” Decimus clamped their palms together. “Now - your heartbreaks. The losses and regrets that have so deeply hurt you in your long, long lifespan. After all of it, you deserved joy, yes? But you broke off your engagement to your dear Turalyon, didn’t you?”
Startled, she lowered her weapon.
“It’s simple,” they continued. “I have certain appetites you can fulfill, and in turn, you have certain appetites that I can fulfill.”
“I– what?” Her indignation melted into sheepish confusion. In another context, she might have thought they meant bread, but the tone in their voice was unmistakable.
“May I presume that you understand my meaning?” They raised their brow ridges. “Perhaps I should clarify. I’ve read that some mortal frustrations can be alleviated by a brief, private tryst with another. In fact, I’ve done some extensive research on the subject, and I believe–”
“I get your meaning,” Alleria interrupted, rubbing the heel of a palm against her temple.
“Excellent. I’ve been unable to observe these practices personally, but I am eager to participate.”
She coughed into an elbow to disguise her bewildered laugh. “What? Here, and now?”
“Of course. I was under the impression that many mortals enjoy such activities.” Their eyes slipped pointedly below her navel. They again drifted close enough to drain the warmth from the air around her, but her cheeks flushed hot all the same. “Or are my research materials mistaken?”
She shivered, but whether it was from their frigid presence or, Sunwell forbid, the idea of–
“How would it even work?” She gestured to their gaseous, formless lower half awkwardly.
“Be more creative than that, Windrunner,” Decimus purred. There was a keen gleam in their eyes. “We’ll satisfy that curiosity of yours, in time.”
She swallowed hard, but couldn’t help the traitorous smile on her lips.
“Mm, there it is. An emotion more delicious than agony. Sweeter than fury.”
“And what would that be?” she asked, barely above a whisper.
They traced a thick, blue thumb along her cheek. The touch tingled pleasantly, and it drew another shiver from her.
“Desire.”