*stumbles in, breathless and half-dead* I DID IT! I REALLY DID IT-*dies*
Might and Magic
By Tyrael aka LiangFeng
Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Diablo II, Warcraft III, Dragonlance, Magic the Gathering…I think that should be it……
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Notes: This is a Faith chapter, next chapter will be concentrated on Willow/Tara moments I SWEAR! I know this story has been lacking that but after next chapter NO MORE!
Chapter 13: Bad Days
“Where am I?”
Faith glanced around, trying to get a bearing on her surroundings but found this task hard to do with the harsh sunlight in her face. The intensity of the light in her eye was almost staggering. Being a Night Elf (and a half-blind Demon Huntress), she did not have the benefit of her vision easily adapting to light. She was puzzled; Silvaseti sunlight was never this bright…
Her vision began to clear and she found herself on a grassy hill over looking a vast plain of green below her. Hidden within what seemed to be a grove of gigantic trees was a small burnt out shell of a village. But underneath the rotten exterior, life seemed to bloom. Small, but firm, temporary huts had been erected along the perimeter as the reconstruction of the torn and ravaged town began.
Small houses…built in the safety of the tree branches…
“Solace!” Faith gasped.
But…she didn’t understand! She had been walking to the Than-Thalas to do the laundry and had paused to take a rest under the shade of an oak tree when…
“Faith!”
Faith whirled on her heels with lighting reflexes to face the direction where the voice came from. Her hand flew to the hilts of her twin sword as her mind drew from within her, an ancient demonic spell, powerful enough to stun even an ogre.
But it seemed her worry was not needed.
“Faith, patrol’s over! Let’s go!” The blonde girl called with obvious warm invitation as she made her way across the broad shoulders of the hill to reach the elf. She was clearly human, as her movements were heavy and prominent, not holding the grace elves were blessed with. Plus her ears were rounded, a dead giveaway.
However, not only was she human, she had a long sword buckled to her back, underneath a targe. Her weapons were half-concealed under a long wolf fur cloak. Though the only armor she seemed to be wearing was a single spaulder worn over her left shoulder and a pair of sturdy metal bracers.
The knowledge that the girl was armed made Faith take an unconscious step backwards and reached one hand for her sword.
The girl didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she ignored it. “C’mon.” She repeated. “Hurry up! Don’t blame me if Xander eats your share!”
Faith stopped, letting her hand drop. She didn’t seem hostile and at the same time knew her name…who was this girl?
“Faith?” The strange asked as she came closer, bordering Faith’s personal space. “You ok?”
“Uh…yeah.” Faith replied with a shaky voice, noticing that the girl had come a little too close for comfort. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Well…okay then.” The blonde girl said with obvious doubt in her voice. She paused, taking a good look at Faith, as if contemplating something. “You know you can talk to me right? I mean,” She added quickly, looking away as if she was shy. “If anything’s bothering you.”
Faith was surprised as she felt the girl taking her hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.
“So…I’ll, ah…see ya.” She muttered as she walked off.
As Faith watched the mysterious girl walk away, she felt her vision grow blurry as dizziness overcame her. Her legs gave our beneath her and she fell to the ground, sitting on her knees.
The breath left her lungs in a rush, and Faith was reminded of the time she was hit across the chest with a club in a training accident years ago. Her body felt heavy as if the earth’s gravity had increased ten times. She opened her mouth to scream but her voice would not come forth.
Then the world around her glowed a brilliant red.
When the world returned, Faith found, at the same time, the unholy pain had left her body. She lifted her head to face a vast bleak wasteland…a battlefield. The sky was burned crimson and the air smelled of spent magiks. Dead bodies littered the ground and the dirt was wet and muddy with blood.
“What the f…”
Faith ripped off the bandage that always guarded her blind eye. Her fingers found warm liquid bubbling up in the empty socket.
Oh Gods…
In times of trouble, the demonic power housed within every Hunter would awake, sending a warning to its host in whatever form it maybe. It served as a reliable omen, but in Faith’s case it was very inconvenient.
But never in her entire life had Faith’s blind eye started to actually bleed. In times of great need or dire out on the battlefield, she would experience an itching or burning pain…but blood?
Faith scrambled to her feet, pulling out her swords with fear-driven fervor. She glanced frantically around, trying in vain to see an unseen enemy.
Her sharp hearing sudden picked up a ripping hiss of a spell being ignited. Faith barely had enough time to pull her swords out in front of her, the bolt of fire glancing angrily off her blades.
“FAITH!”
She stared into angry green eyes that burned with raging hatred. Faith was speechless to see an enemy standing before her with such power. The woman mage was obviously human but Faith sensed immeasurable strength.
“Good Gods…”
With a wild yell, the mage drew her majiks, summoning hungry blue flames into her arms and throwing them at Faith in dancing ribbons of fire that licked at the Huntress’ vulnerable body.
Faith shook off the shock that had captured her senses and drew upon a spell of her own. With small effort, the fires were banished and died away as they fell from their once deadly embrace.
“Stop it! Willow, stop it!”
But the woman was heedless. She plunged her hands into the blood-soaked earth, sending a torrent of shockwaves aimed at Faith. The elf was shocked to see the earth beneath her open up and rise to bury her. She was helpless as the earth solidified, effectively encasing her in a prison of concrete. But magik was magik and Faith was confident that it was only a matter of time to break the magical bonds that held her. But time was not something Faith had.
In less that a second, Willow had closed the gap between her and the Huntress. She pulled a bow and quiver from the nerveless grasp of a nearby corpse, smiling as she tested the bow-string.
“It’s kinda ironic, huh?” Willow smiled as strung an arrow to the bow as pointed the head at Faith’s forehead.
“Willow, c’mon…” Faith coughed, as the earthen prison holding her did not allow much room for breathing. “Put that down…”
“Of all the nerve.” Willow laughed. “You have the guts to say that even after you killed Tara.”
Faith’s eyes grew wide as the information registered in her head. “Holy fu-“
She was barely aware of the white-hot pain exploding in her head.
===
With a start, Faith awoke from her troubled slumber. She half-rose, checking her surroundings in a panic. Finding herself back home, she sighed and fell back against the tree trunk. She felt that she had a nightmare but in all honesty she couldn’t remember the dream she had.
Abandoning the basket of laundry to rest under the oak tree, she stumbled over to the riverside where the Than-Thalas didn’t run so strong. Kneeling down to the damp earth, she took off the bandage that guarded her eye and proceeded to splash the icy water over her face in an attempt to fully wake herself. Having the desired effect, she wiped off the excess water that was dripping from her face.
Faith dropped herself onto a nearby boulder, as she wasn’t in the mood to be doing chores. She closed her eyes, letting the feeling of peace wash over her. She’d been doing this for quite a while now, ever since Tara and Dawn went off to study at their Tower of Sorcery. She had more and more time to herself and she would come here to meditate, to gain control of the demon housed inside of her.
It was an invasion of the body, mind, and soul. At this, Faith had no doubt. Every Hunter and Huntress was subject to such violation once they took on their ritual, their Passage of Rite to mutilate themselves in order for a demon to be summoned from the depths of the underworld and be placed into their bodies just for power. But the power was wonderful, Faith could not deny. When called upon, she was given such magnificent and terrible strength.
During her thoughts, Faith’s hand traveled to her breast, and to the necklace she wore under her shirt. It was a simple leather pouch she wore on a cord around her neck, but to her it meant the world.
It was as if she was with her right now. As if she could feel her arms wrap gently around her neck in a loving embrace. As if she were sitting right next to her. As if she would hear her voice in her ear…
‘Whatcha doing?’
“Nothing.” Faith grunted.
‘Why do you always sit by yourself…you look so lonely.’
“I am lonely.”
‘I love you…’
“I love you too.” Tears welled up in Faith’s eye. Try as she might, she could not hold them back. “I love you so much.”
====
Angelus stepped out onto the veranda, gazing at the bright Silvaseti moon with a hint of wariness. Though the moon was shining brightly, there were no stars in the sky. Usually, Silvaseti nights were alive with the sound of birds and animals singing…but tonight it was still and the air was stagnant. And neither Dawlathar nor Faithasala had come back from their errands. Something did not feel right.
“Something is amiss, Giles.” Angelus turned to the immortal human who sat in the desk on the porch, poring over ancient maps that were yellowed with age. “Not even a cricket chirps…”
“Something has been amiss for quite sometime my friend.” Giles said, still studying the maps of Kranin without looking up. He did, however pause to sip from a mug of tea. The man had volunteered to figure out how to get from Silvaseti to Solace in the shortest time possible and had dug out various maps in the process. He kept in his mind that this was a young woman trying to get back to her home-her family, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. Such determination deserved applause and Giles silently admired the girl’s willingness to get back to the ones she loved at any cost, even getting attacked by the Burning Legions.
Angelus blinked his eyes before staring out to the night sky again. “The Elders have ordered us to escort the human to Solace.”
“Us?” At this, Giles did look up.
“Faithasala and I.” Angelus clarified.
Giles furrowed his brow. “Most interesting…”
Angelus could see the man’s confusion but chose to remain silent. He knew that in Giles’ mind, the Draenor man was wondering why in the world would the Hunter Council even bother themselves with a petty human. Only Angelus knew, the Elders had sensed great power within the human mage and entrusted Angelus with the task of guarding such power. For if by some terrible incident that might were to be unleashed…
“And why does the Council think that more than one Hunter is necessary for the task?”
It was Giles’ way of asking why does the Council not trust Faith. Angelus already felt bad that he was lying to his friend about his mission, and it wasn’t as if Giles knew the truth already.
“Faith is too reckless in her search for power. She is willing to give anything for the strength to destroy her enemies. Part of being a Hunter is that one must be apart of the darkness to combat it, but Faith…is willing to BECOME it.”
All these things Giles knew, but it was different having it said out loud. He was silent for a moment, knowing that at anytime his daughter would surrender to her demon. It had hung in the back of his mind, but had denied it. Faith was a good girl, she really was but…she had a dark side, like every Hunter. But just how deep did that darkness go?
“We will depart at anytime on the girl’s will.” Angelus said, indicating Willow.
Giles silently nodded to Angelus’ back as the elf left the house, and melted into the night.
You see, I have no choice but to give up. After all there are no such things as miracles.--Arisugawa Juri
by Leila DeRange » Mon Nov 18, 2002 4:42 pm 
Anyways I had to give you feedback on this cause I really like this!! You are in my list of fav writers!! I'm really not into fanstasy stuff but your fic has got me hooked on them. Well I'll be waiting for your update for sure cause this rocks!!
,
and thank all the Gods & Godesses i could think of.. Co'z i really love your fic.
But like kung-fu our style stresses weapon use, par to TKD's stressing of kicks and flips.
Can't wait for more. 
! NO, that's bad. Oh, and 
going to be bad no, she has to resist temptation of the dark magic. 
ad see what happens next! Update soon, please? 
