The Trial Never Ends (Rank-up)

It had been a long time since Miral Nerys had been home.

Harodiel was a place of memory and terrible, terrible sorrow. The former home of the Eldross lay mostly silent in the south of Endaron, just west of Sunshield Hold, and was now a monument to the devastation that can befall any place. It had been almost a hundred years since the black Dragon Onyxus laid waste to what was once a lush and magical place in a fit of rage, but the memory was felt as keenly as if it had happened just this morning. The Eldross race were decimated, with only a hundred or so survivors. The remaining Eldross were granted a place to make a new home by their Eldari kin, the Ashaya Forest in Endaron. The Eldari provided everything the Eldross survivors needed to build their new home, even enchanting the forest to protect them from any further intrusion, but to Miral Nerys it never really felt like home. She had tried to shed the reminders of her old life by leaving her old sword Glyphos with Glorintir, a renowned Eldari smith who was an old friend of her father's, even going so far as to ask him to destroy it. The old Eldari refused however, storing the weapon in his shop until Miral returned to wield it, something she had no immediate plans of doing. She also turned down the opportunity to join the Eternal Watch as part of their newly-created Eldross Guild, having been offered a position due to her centuries of service in the Collective. Miral's plan was to disappear into the wilderness and retreat from the world. Fate had taken everything from her, she would not give it anything else to take from her now.

But no matter how Miral tried to stay away from the world, something in her always lured her back in some fashion. It began with simple forest guide jobs, offering her help in guiding travelers through the forests and wilderness that she now knew like the back of her hand. This turned into a more involved guide job over the years, no longer restricting herself to just the forests. No matter how much she tried to stay away, Miral could not the avoid the presence of her deceased wife, Kira Toril. Kira was a mighty and heroic warrior, but she was also a kind and just person who would help anybody she thought needed her help. Miral at least owed it to her to try and help people. Then there was their child, Artem. Artem was a precocious and curious child, and it was his presence in her mind that hurt Miral the most. Every moment Miral tried to isolate herself was another moment that she wasted and that Artem never got to experience. Every moment of inaction was an insult to the memories of her wife and son. So she began to re-enter the world, hoping to honor her loss with what life she had left.

This urge brought Miral to the Order of the Sun, where she found a rock against the sea of chaos. For the first time in decades she reunited with one of her people, Shran Trostani. Shran had volunteered his considerable Ranger skills to the Order, seeing them as a worthy cause. Miral understood what her kinsman saw in the Human-led faction, and she had to admit it drew her as well. The Order were never directly involved in the fighting that marred the continent, but their role in key moments in history since their conception was irrefutable. They were often the peacekeepers, a role the Eldross had previously filled, and they were always there to pick up the pieces after the major nations had invariably collided. Shran was a stabilizing presence for Miral, and she visited the Hold semi-regularly to speak with him whenever he wasn't away on assignment. More recently Miral also found herself speaking quite often with Kairi Thorne, a Human who possessed a wisdom and empathy that was rare for one of her relatively short years. Kairi had a way of innocently uncovering one's insecurities and treating them directly, something which Miral valued highly, though she did feel unhapy that she could not offer the same kind help that Kairi granted her. All of this combined with her encounter with Massive Man and the granddaughter of Ren the Hornless, and her subsequent adventures with Kairi in Karcenak, convinced Miral that she had much work to do to make a difference in these tumultuous times. A pattern she had seen before was emerging again, and she owed it to her family, her people, and everyone who had helped her so far, to try.

Which brought her here. The Ruins of Harodiel.

Miral stood for long moments, a lone sentinel at a spot she only barely recognized. But she did recognize it. Shran had offered to accompany her on this journey, but Miral knew that this was a journey she had to complete alone. Harodiel was now a sacred site, with a guard consisting of Eldross Rangers and volunteers from the Order. The guard patrolled the borders, only admitting other Eldross or those with permission from the Ashaya settlement. Though most gave the ruins a wide berth out of respect, there were still the odd ne'er-do-wells who would try to gain access to in order to acquire some of the fabled Tranquil Ash, the legendary wood which grows only in Harodiel. Though most of the forest was a charred wasteland, a small grove survived in the coastal areas of the forest. The grove was too small to live in, but it was big enough that there was hope that over time, nature would eventually reclaim what was taken by Onyxus.

Miral was not here for the wood however. As she stared at the area where she and her family had once lived, she fell to her knees... and wept. Miral wanted to run, to flee the pain that came from this spot. But she knew that she had to do what she came here to do. It had been almost a hundred years since she had last been here, and everyone of those years hit her like a tidal wave sweeping her away. Inara, her faithful ocelot companion, sat down beside her and brushed her head off her leg gently. The ocelot had seen everything Miral had seen, felt everything Miral had felt. Inara had intended to try and bolster Miral in some way, but when she looked down at her feline friend, she only saw the same sorrow and sadness which she felt. Eldross and companion wept for long moments.

When she finally got some control over herself, Miral sniffed before reaching into her satchel and producing a small potted flower from it. Placong it on the ground, Miral dug a small hole in the ground at the base of the tree that had once been her home. The flower was an Alfirin, a small white flower that passingly resembled a white buttercup. Alfirin was an Eldari flower, common to Sindaron but also found in certain areas of Endaron, and was known in the common tongue as Evermind. It was a flower long associated with venerated graves, and was said to live as long as the memory of the people it commemorated lived in others. Inara gazed at the plant with reverence, and the feline's voice gently entered Miral's mind. "It is a beautiful flower. Kira and Artem would love it." Miral simply nodded, and proceeded to gently lift the flower and its soil from the pot and carefully placed in the hol she had dug. She then retrieved a waterskin from the satchel and poured it gently around the flower, attempting to make the barren soil a more hospitable home. Wiping her eyes with her gloved hand, Miral took the satchel and put it over her shoulder. Breathing deeply, she turned to take one last look around, when Inara suddenly went on high alert. "Someone else is here." Miral nodded, looking around. "Maybe it is one of the Guard."

As Miral planted her little flower in the ground, They watched. They sensed fear, regret, loss and pain from the lone eldross, but somewhere deep down, the will to become better. They could see the woman she planted that flower for in their mind, and their body shimmered as they became her. Heavy black armor formed over her figure, obscuring it, covering her face. Fear. That was her biggest weakness. Fear to act. Fear to fight. Overcoming that fear was the first step towards what she wanted. A sword, long handled, 4ft of delicate blade, a winged of metal to protect the hand appeared in the Wraith's hand.



Stepping foward, the cat sensed her and silent communication alerted the bonded. The wraith slipped from the nowhere as Miral looked up and walked into view. She observed them silently for a moment, unreadable in her black armor. Her eyes lit up like flames, and the Wraith came sweeping towards them, the stomp of armor shattering the silence. A compact ball of fire shot from her hand to drive Miral from the spot as she closed on the pair and raised her heavy boot to smash the flower into smithereens in hopes of forcing Miral into action as fire sprang to life around them, pening Miral in to a 100ft area.

Miral nocked an arrow with great speed when she saw a stranger emerge from the ether in front of her and aimed it squarely at them. The intruder was a vaguely female form, though standing almost a head taller than her and clad in heavy armor. Miral's eyes were wide and alert, trying to work out who this intruder was and why they were there. "Who are you?" When the intruder didn't respond, Miral took a couple of slow steps backwards. The intruder seemed to study her for a moment, before their eyes lit up with flames and they charged. Miral jumped back as the intruder fired a fireball at her feet.

The Eldross repositioned hastily, preparing to make a retreat, when she realized with horror that she was trapped by a ring of flames that surrounded the area. Miral aimed at the intruder again, only to gape in horror as she realized the intruder had used the opportunity to advance and was about to destroy the Alfirin she had just planted. With a cry of panic, Miral loosed her arrow at the stranger, aiming to draw their attention away from her flower. It was the best she could do, as it was obvious that her arrows would not penetrate the stranger's armor. Miral then cast her bow to the side and beckoned to Inara to leap into her hand in staff form. She trembled almost uncontrollably as she stepped between the intruder and her shrine to her family. She stared up at the glowing eyes of the intruder with an expression of pure fear. "P-P-Please. Why are you doing this?" Miral blinked a couple of tears away, and gripped her staff tightly in her trembling hands.

The arrow bounced off the intruder's helmet and shattered as it rochoched off into the wasteland. The Wraith's foot hit the dirt inches from the flower, and she turned to face Miral. She paused as the woman stared at her in fear, and asked why she was doing this. The Wraith tilted her armored head and silence followed. "Coward." She stepped forward. "Failure." She took another step. "Wretch." She raised her sword, the long thin blade pointing towards Miral. "Defend what you love." She said.

The Wraith moved, sweeping forward into a fluid strike aimed to cut Miral from hip to opposite shoulder. She followed this by bringing her sword arm up, hand to shoulder, the tip of her blade towards Miral, and unleashed a burst of twenty thrusts in rapid succession to drive her back towards the fire. She spun and aimed a finger towards Miral and unleashing a bolt of lightning, before lobbing a ball of ice towards her flower. If it hit the ground, the ball would explode in cold damage, likely freezing it instantly.

The intruder looked menacingly towards Miral, and she found herself taking a step back in spite of herself. The stranger chose not to identify themselves, instead simply responding with an eerily familiar voice, though Miral couldn't quite place where she had heard it from. The stranger spoke the word "coward", before stepping forward and following it up with "failure, and then "wretch". Miral continued to tremble, trying to make sense of what was happening. "What d-d-do you mean? P-P-Please..." Before Miral's pleas could continue, the intruder raised their oddly familiar blade and pointed it towards Miral, telling her to defend what she loved. Miral had no idea why this stranger was acting towards her so, and the Eldross raised her staff to guard in response. "I-I-I don't want t-to fight..."

Before Miral could finish, the stranger advanced with a vicious swing, attempting to cut Miral in half. The Eldross let out a cry of panic and leapt over the stranger, flipping in mid-air and landing on the other side of them. Miral tried to protest, but the stranger simply turned and barraged her with a multitude of sword thrusts, forcing Miral to evade and parry to her limit. However, she got caught by a coupleglancing hits, leaving small gashes on her arms and shoulders, as it turned out her limit wasn't enough. Miral retreated back, but realized she was nearing the fiery boundary of the makeshift arena the stranger had summoned. The intruder fired a bolt of lightning at Miral which she was forced to dive-roll to evade.

Miral regained her feet, and looked up to see the stranger firing an ice-ball to the side, and Miral saw with horror that the attack was aimed at her flower again. Miral activated her Wind of the Wilds, giving her a +1 to Speed and Agility. It was weaker now that she was using it in the dead charred ruins of Harodiel, but it was enough. Miral charged towards the ball of ice, hurling her staff at the ball with desperate strength. The staff collided with the ball halfway to its destination, detonating it in a small explosion of cold energy. Miral continued running and rolled through the frozen ground and reclaiming her weapon in mid-roll.

Regaining her feet and putting herself between the stranger and the flower, Miral clenched her staff tightly in both hands and took deep breaths, coming to a decision. Miral had expected her to have come to her already, but she had always evaded it somehow, be it by running like a coward or by theintervention of another. But here she knew she couldn't run, and there was no one coming to save her. Miral Nerys decided that she would at least die trying to protect her flower, the symbol of her family. She was filled by a new determination which almost seemed foreign to her in its power. She looked to the stranger with wide eyes born of both fear and anger. "I make my stand here. If it will cost me my life to protect my family, I am prepared to make that sacrifice." She stepped forward and readied her guard for whatever power the stranger brought to bear next.

The Wraith pushed the woman to her limits, scoring several hits with her barrage of thrusts, and further as she nearly destroyed the flower that represented her family. She watched passively as Miral planted herself firmly infront of the Wraith, steeled herself, and told the Wraith that she would defend her family to her last. The Wraith lowered her sword. "You failed at that long ago." The Wraith said, begining to circle Miral. "Every moment spent cowering, as others suffered." She said. "A great warrior turned spineless." The Wraith stopped behind her. "Where is she now? The woman who fought and loved and felt something beyond grief and fear. Is she dead?" The Wraith said. "Coward. Failure. Wretch."

She lunged, sword thrusting for Miral's leg as her own attempted to stomp the flower. She would continue to attack the flower until Miral struck back, properly. The Wraith wanted the warrior. More than that, the world needed the warrior. Miral wanted the Warrior back. After attempting to stomp the flower, her foot likely missing by a few inches, she slashed the sword up and down, and then threw out her other hand, and unleashed a burst of wind that would push Miral back toward the fire. She followed it with a barrage twenty of very weak magical bolts of erergy to assail the Eldross. The Wraith lept after her then, her own blade bursting into flames as she swept it up and down.

As Miral planted herself and prepared to fight, the stranger unexpectedly lowered her weapon and began to circle the Eldross slowly, as if scanning her. The stranger spoke again, voice dripping with disdain. She told Miral that she had already failed to protect her family, something she was all to aware of. The stranger continued, reminding Miral of every moment she had spent cowering or running, others had paid for her cowardice. She had visions of her encounter with Massive Man, how she had let villagers die while she was too scared to act. Miral had even put Vala Hornless at risk because of her own fear. The stranger brought up Miral's past, how she had once been a mighty warrior, but was now only a shell of what she once was. They asked where that Miral had gone, if she had died. They then repeated the same three words they had chanted at Miral earlier, and the Eldross found her head swimming with images and words from countless sources, all reminding her of her failures and her loss. But the resolve she had mustered in the face of certain death remained, while she compartmentalized the rest to deal with later. She glared defiantly over her shoulder at the stranger, ignoring the tears stinging her eyes.

"I can never atone for my failures, but I can at least die knowing I gave everything to protect them here." As the stranger aimed a slice at the back of her leg, while making another attempt on her flower, Miral spun and jumped over the thrust, aiming a swift blow to the helmet that would not deal too much in the way of actual damage, but would hopefully spoil their aim. Flower saved for another moment, Miral then had to contend with a pair of vertical slashes, which Miral parried with her staff. She couldn't match strength with the stranger, so she used her staff to glance the blows to the side, rather than attempting to block them directly. She was then sent sliding back by a sharp burst of wind from the stranger's hand, moving close to the fiery boundary again. The stranger then fire a barrage of small bolts which Miral countered by spinning her staffin front of her as she moved, with only a couple making it through and hitting her arms and legs. The stranger followed Miral, their sword bursting into flames as they went. Miral braced before meeting the attack. She glanced the first blow to the right before coming back across and glancing the next to the left and spinning with the blow. She spun into a hard swing of her staff at the stranger's near leg, before transitioning into another hard swing at the strangers thick helmet. She darted around to the side and aimed a thrust at the stranger's side and another at the head before backing off, having got away from the fiery boundary. Battle was joined, there was no going back now.

Miral knocked the first swing to the left, then the next one to the right before bringing her staff around to strike at the Wraith's knee. She shifted her leg slightly, deflecting the blow, tilting her head to the side with the next blow, the staff bounced up. The wraith pushed the first thrust aside with her arm, the second impacting her head and throwing it back violently. The Wraith was forced back a step. Ever so slowly, she straightened and looked directly at Miral. "Better." She said. Raising her sword, she took her stance.

With a sudden lunge, she thrust at Miral, the tip of her estoc aimed for below the collarbone. The thrust turned into a slash if it missed, and then the Wraith spun on her heel, bringing the sword back and thrusting her other hand forward. From it shot a tangled vine aimed for Miral's legs, and should She become tangled, the Wraith would use the oppurtunity to close and slam a closed fist towards her face. If Miral avoided the vines she would instead preform a quick slash towards the womans legs.

The stranger handily dealt with Miral's opening salvo, at least until the Eldross connected with a strike to the stranger's head, causing their head to snap back violently. The impact forced them to retreat a step, but they remained standing. They straightened up and gazed unperturbed at Miral, acknowledging the increased effort by the Eldross. Miral dropped into a combat stance again, eyes fixed on Miral. "Enough. No more words." Miral did not care to engage in any more pointless discourse with this person. They had made their intentions clear already. Miral was relieved to see that the stranger had turned their full attention to her now that she was fighting back.

The stranger lunged forward with a sharp thrust aimed just below Miral's shoulder. The Eldross turned to avoide the thrust, before ducking quickly to evade the rapid follow-up slash. Miral jumped back to get out of range, but the stranger pointed their palm at her and cast a spell, and Miral found her feet being tangled up in a thick vine. She pulled with all of her might, eventually getting herself free from the vine. However, she had wasted enough time for the stranger to approach quickly and connect with a powerful punch to her face. Miral sailed backwards a few feet and landed on her side in the dirt.

Miral got shakily to her feet, feeling her cheek swelling already. She could taste blood in her mouth, but she fixed her eyes on the stranger, and charged. She ran and slid low, sliding between the stranger's legs. On the way, she held on to her staff horizontally, hoping her speed and momentum would bring her staff through and take the stranger's legs out from under her. If it worked, she would turn quickly as she rose to her feet and attempt to slam her staff down on the stranger's head. If she failed to trip the stranger, she would instead aim a pair of strikes at the back of the stranger's knee joints, and then follow up with an attempt to whack the stranger on the head again. Either way, Miral would then back up out of range again.

After dealing with the Wraith's attacks, Miral was floored by the punch. However, instead of cowering she rose to her feet and charged. Sliding between the strangers legs, she tripped her. The stranger toppled fowards and hit the ground on her hands and knees, then rolled to the side as the whistle of wood warned her of an attack. Mirals staff hit the ground next to her. Before Miral could attempt to whack her again, The Wraith targeted herself with Gale, sitting up and hitting herself in the back with it. This propelled her to her feet rapidly, and she followed it up by casting windsnare towards Miral, attempting to pull the woman towards her. Should she succeed, she would use momentum gained from her quick rise to slam a shoulder into Miral's chest.

If Miral managed to avoid the wind snare, the Wraith would instead keep her distance, and forced Miral to close by unleashing a hailstorm of attacks in her direction. She started with an ice orb, lobbed high and aimed to land behind Miral, then ball of fire, aimed towards Miral's left and quickly fired a bolt of lightning from her other hand, towards Miral's right, forcing a single avenue, directly towards her. The Wraith did visibly sag for a moment as she had used quite allot of power in a matter of seconds.

Miral managed to trip the stranger with her sliding gambit. However, when she tried to follow up with a head shot to the prone intruder, they managed to roll out of the way of the strike, before regaining their feet with a gust of wind. The stranger attempted to pull Miral towards her with another wind ability, but Miral noticed the vortex being formed and dived to the side. She regained her feet quickly to find an ice ball dropping towards her. She dive-rolled forward to avoid it, forcing into continuing her attack. The stranger began to fire off attacks, forcing Miral to stay straight in her advance.

Miral knew she was being coralled into this route, but she didn't care. She began to slide low, as if she was attempting her low sweep again, but at the last minute she jabbed her staff into the ground as she slid, launching her into a pole vault up into the air. Miral then spun her staff to gain momentum while she was airborne, and brought the weapon down with all of her strength she could muster onto the stranger's head. When she landed, regardless of if she hit with the down swing, Miral then swung horizontally across and back, aiming for the head and neck before stepping back again.

The Wraith watched as Miral sped towards her, then slid low. Expecting a similar attempt to trip the Wraith raised a leg to stomp on Miral's chest as she came in. Instead Miral jammed her staff into the ground, launching herself upwards. The Wraith's foot hit dirt, as Miral flew up, and came struck at her head. The Wraith moved and the staff whistled past her ear. Miral hit the ground and they both spun, the strike of the staff glancing off the Wraith's baskinet and knocking her head to the side, the helmet almost flying free. Miral backed off, but the Wraith regained her composure, righted the helmet and followed.

She closed with a wide slash to the midriff spinning the estoc into several thrusts, one to the leg, hip and shoulder of Miral's right size. She followed the last thrust with a quick flick, aiming to cut down across her chest with the tip. She brought the blade back and stepped forward as fire surged over her body and exploded outwards in a blast of flames ten foot from her in all directions and dealing average damage. The flower was safely out of range which she had made sure of.

Miral landed with a thump, but her downward strike missed the mark when the stranger moved out of the way. When Miral swung for their head again the stranger dodged the first swing, but they didn't quite get out of the way of the second, Miral's staff glancing off the side of their helmet. The stranger recoiled from the hit but remained standing. They readjusted their helmet before pursuing Miral when she retreated. Miral jumped back to avoid the waist slash, before spinning her staff into a wide grip to deal with the oncoming thrusts. She dealt with the strikes aimed for her leg and hip, but the third thrust managed to bypass her defences. The blade sank into her shoulder, and she cried out in pain and jumped back as the stranger attempted to filet her before they withdrew the blade.

Miral reached for her shoulder and felt the blood trickle out, then realized she had made a fatal mistake. The momentary distraction allowed the stranger to close, fire surging all over their body. Miral stared at the stranger in shock, before spotting her flower behind the stranger. Normally, she needed the life force of a forest or jungle to fuel some of her powers. But she found a reserve somewhere within her, as if the sight of her family's flower through the flames radiating from the stranger's body had stirred something inside her. A level of power she had forgotten long ago. Just as a blast of fire erupted from their body, knocking Miral off her feet and knocking her back through a charred tree trunk, she mustered energy into her wracked body and used her Shield of the Ancients, protecting her from the fire. The trip through the tree still hurt though, but she wasn't finished yet. She drew power from the flower of her home and used her Wild Walk to teleport behind the stranger, and swung her staff with all of her might at their head. This was her final gambit.

The Wraith sensed Miral had crested a peak in her power, as the blast hit her and she was launched away but left unscathe because a barrier. Then with a final surge of power, Miral vanished, reappearing behind the Wraith. The staff collided with a crack and knocked the Wraiths' head to the side, her helmet flying free. The wraith staggered to the side but stopped herself from falling easily, then righted. Reversing the grip of her sword, she stuck the blade in the ground and removed the arming cap, releasing her hair.

Turning around, the Wraith confronted Miral with the face she bore, that of Kira, wife, mother and warrior. She watch Miral with soft eyes, then spoke. "You never failed to protect them, Miral. Let go of that regret, for it will only hold you back from the path you must walk. And walk it you must, regardless of fear. The world needs you, as selfish as that may be." She said. With a bow, the Wraith plucked her sword from the dirt, "Until next we meet." she said and vanished. The Fires that raged ceased to exist, and there was no signs that anything had happened here.

(rank up passed)

Miral connected with her vicious swing, knocking the helmet of the stranger clean off their head. The stranger ended up with their back to Miral, and the Eldross prepared to swing again at the now unprotected head of her opponent. The stranger then stuck their sword in the ground and pulled free the arming cap that they had worn beneath the helmet. When the stranger turned back around to face Miral, the Eldross' eyes widened in shock, and she felt as if the stranger's weapon had pierced her heart. Miral dropped her staff to the ground and dropped to her knees as she gazed into the face of the woman she loved and had lost almost a century ago. "K-Kira? This... is... impossible..."

In that moment, almost a century of sorrow and heartbreak hit Miral all at once, rending her spirit and her heart asunder. Tears streamed down her face, and she watched in complete silence as Kira's soft gaze burned through her. The figure wearing her wife's face spoke softly with Kira's voice, and Miral's gaze dropped as she looked down at her hands. The stranger told her that she had never failed to protect her family, and that she needed to let go of the regret that had plagued her every waking moment since the tragedy that took Miral's wife and son from her, as well as most of her people. The stranger also said that the regret would hold her back from the path she needed to take, a path the world needed her to take.

The stranger then vanished with a bow, taking the flames with them and leaving Miral alone in the burnt remains of her home. She felt a nudge on her thigh, and saw that Inara had returned to her normal form and had sat down beside her. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve and standing up, she felt a pain in her shoulder and was reminded that she had been injured. However, despite the initial trauma of the stranger's aggressive approach to coaxing her into combat, Miral also had a feeling of a weight being lifted, though there was still some doubt. She actually felt freer than she had in a very long time. She approached the flower she had planted, which had survived the fight, and knelt beside it. Miral suspected that it was never the stranger's intention to actually kill the flower, just to endanger it enough for Miral to fight. The Eldross offered a silent prayer for her family and her people, and rose to her feet again. Miral Nerys knew she did not have much longer left to live, but perhaps she could still make a difference after all.