human female retribution paladin.
Ahzyah
full name: Ahzyah Evertruce
daughter of Elizah Ever and John Truce.
The origin of her first name remains an intriguing mystery to this day. It would seem from the gleam in her eye that she knows herself but is playfully not telling anybody.
Ahzyah was part of one of the damned human villages in the path of the Undead Lich King's Plague Drive. The insane but great human military leader decided that the Plague Drive would soon reach the village where Ahzyah's family lived, and nothing could be done to stop it. So, he made the decision to set the whole village ablaze, to "purify" the people before they were consumed by the plague. He considered it to be likened to a fire-break.
Except he told his troops a different story. He told them that this village had already been exposed to the Plague. Except, they were not exposed to the plague yet, and he knew it.
The horrible firestorm that was a result of this almost leapt to the surrounding countryside but for a unknown miracle. Also, some areas inside the town were similarity mysteriously fire-free. One such area was chanced upon by the dwarf paladin, Avid Surehammer. He was the most trusted of all the troops. He was part of the crew sent into the village after the ash had settled to dispatch any possible survivors. Following orders and coming across almost dead or silent victims, it was easy for Avid to unquestionably follow orders. That is, until he chanced upon a house where he heard a small sound. He was alone, everyone else having moved on in their search in farther parts of the village if not done yet. But, Avid was much more thorough. He was a dwarf, after all.
So, anybody else would have thought that small high whispering sound to be the wind and moved on. Not Avid, though. He trusted his senses, and his intuition, far more than a human would.
Stomping quickly around the house, he is stopped cold by a strange sight. For one thing, there is a single tree standing, still with leaves upon it and seemingly hardly touched by the conflagration that roared around it. That was his first shock. The second one was the source of the noise. He couldn't tell what it was at first. But soon he determined it was a combination of crying and singing. It was not a familiar song to him, nor was it sung in his dialect, but all the same it reminded him of a song from his home. The fact that it was sung in his native tongue was incontrovertible. It was plaintive, bittersweet, and totally irresistible to the fiery but underneath-it-all softhearted Avid.
Now determined to find the source of such an angelic singer, who must by all rights be a female dwarf caught in the middle of this 95% or so human village, he quieted his usual stomping around to a more agile stepping forward. Stranger still, he heard the sound of a few birds in this tree, and maybe the subtle whimpering of a few other woodland animals. Next what caught his eye was a piece of fabric that fell from a branch covered from his sight with leaves. It was light, see through, and white. It had a blue trim, and it seemed to have been singed by the fire.
"There there, it's OK, I'm not going to hurt ye," Avid spoke in his deep voice that he also hoped he had made sufficiently paternal and welcoming. The crying-singing voice stopped, but only for a moment, then continued once again. He took this as a sign that he could continue around the tree to view the source. So that is what he did.
As he stepped around, at first his sight was blocked from the source by a whole flock of birds fluttering their way up and skyward away from the tree. The sudden sound of their combined wings startled even this hardened dwarf. He hardly showed it outside, of course, but inside he almost jumped out of his skin!
Having recovered from this event, he focused his attention to see the singer. It was not a dwarf after all! Instead it was a young human girl. Being that his kind lived so much longer than humans, his age-guessing of them was still pathetic at best, but he would have guessed that she was between 10 and 15 years of age. What struck him the most was that as black as her hair was, her skin was just as white. She was dressed, he decided, in a night gown. It's whiteness and her skin were almost indistinguishable, except for the nature of the fabric.
There she sat, in the crook of one of the branches, soot on parts of her, leaning over to her right side and slightly hugging the almost vertical thick limb there. She was singing still, her eyes half-filled with tears but unhidden, naked in their sorrow as if unafraid of it, owning it.
This is partially what she sang, translated as is everything here into English:
I am but a wee young girl
But a great fault is mine
I no longer belong on this world
For this I am singin' and cryin'
I took a lantern down, past curfew
To defiantly check my pet
I forgot to pen her up, tis true
And for my sin this is what I get
It's my fault the house flamed up
It's my burden that my folks died
It's my sorrow forever more
It's only me left here alive
It's my sorrow forever more
My sin left me here alone alive.
***
With these words, Avid's heart melted for her. She stopped her song, the last word being the most beautiful, lingering in the now still air. She let her eyes slowly fall upon the new arrival, and she smiled. A smile that was warm and surrendering and oh so welcome with it's sweetness. He should have thought her mad, but for some reason he just couldn't.
"Oh, hello there. Have you come to take me away now?"
"Excuse me, miss?"
"I have read books I probably shouldn't have. I had an uncle who was friends with the Dwarf Exploration League, and he used to tell me tales. He told me I should always be open minded and open-hearted, not like my parents. For the other races were just like I was, different on the outside, yes, but the same on the inside from good to bad. Especially the dwarves he told me, they were most special. So special, that when I died, I would probably find out that one would come to escort me to the EverAfter, as he called it.
"So, kind sir, I query again with most due respect due to you, are you my guide? You are ever so much grander than I had ever imagined from my Uncle's tales, and I welcome your presence even in it's cause. May I please admit my sin, and be forgiven it? I swear, I didn't mean to hurt anybody. I still don't understand how such a great fire was caused by my small one when I tripped over my pet and the lantern burst and caught flame. It seemed to defy time and space and go everywhere, it was most strange. I couldn't even face the flames to help my parents, and the door wouldn't open, but a way was unblocked for me tho I forget where now. And, this tree seemed to call out to me. It seemed to not care about my horrible sin, but it loved me even WITH it and called me gently up into it, where you find me now. Not with a voice, exactly, but with a feeling.
"But I don't mean to bore you with my excuses. I am here, and I accept my fate, so take me wherever I am to go and I will accept my placement with grace, as my Uncle taught me to do."
"It's OK, it's not your fault I .... can't tell you why but it isn't, trust me. And, you are not dead, at least you seem solid enough to me. My name is Avid Surehammer." And he pronounced his first name with a long a. "What be your name, now, lassie?"
"You may call me Ahzyah. My full name is Ahyah Evertruce. Well, not my FULL full name, I am to keep the middle name my Uncle gave me secret for awhile longer. The first name he gave me, and my parent's graceful enough to except, is out for all to see! So, I am not dead. But still, you seem like a guide to me. I sense a beautiful soul within you, kind Avid."
Avid wanted to look down in shame for what he was truly sent in here to do. But, as soon as his eyes set upon her and he drank in her words, that part of him had slunk behind him like a shadow. He could no longer recall it even.
That is why instead, with no deceit, Avid smiled up at her and bade her to climb down. At the last, she lost her grip and fell, but he caught her as if he were human and this was his bride that he was carrying across the threshold. Except it was not romantic love for her or any love he knew of in this world that he had been taught of or experienced. It was not familial, exactly, but something above. But, being caught in the moment and needing a term to anchor to, he decided on one more familiar to him. So, for now, he looked upon her as a daughter.
He felt no plague in her, in fact he saw just the opposite. She was different, she was innocent, she was cheerful and a joy to the world despite the lingering sorrow that was sure to remain behind her eyes because of what his commander did this day. He felt a familial love for her that he had only felt for his own proud kind. He decided that he would have to risk everything for this one human angel.
So, he made up his mind then and there. And when a Dwarf makes up his mind, the world rushes to do it's will or risks life and limb foolishly trying to defy it. And that is maybe why this paladin was spared the head count of his insane human military leader. This is probably why he was able to tell some of the truth to Ahzyah but not to upset her or anger her. And, greatest miracle of all, this is probably why when he took gentle yet firm hold of her hand and then touched and murmured over his hearthstone, he was able to keep hold of her and she was able to be ported along with him, and they both arrived safely there. Because we are all capable of performing miracles when we most want or need to.
To be safe, he took her to a neutral place first, where goblins mixed with some peaceful members of the Horde. Whilst there, she stayed with a kind Tauren family. It was because of her that more Tauren joined the Cenarian Circle later, for visitors to their house could not help but to be changed positively by this gentle woman.
It is Avid that found Ahzyah a family to take care of her later in Goldshire, it was Avid that helped start her path (which, out of inspiration from him, she decided to become a paladin just like him), but everything else came from Ahzyah's own beautiful soul.
Ahzyah had made a decision soon after being moved in with the human family just outside Stormwind. She was not going to let her life now lived in service of the Light to be consumed by the fire of anger and regret. But, instead to be alit by the flame of Truth and Love. She did not care to be known or rewarded for her service to others, but she would indeed put herself out to help others no matter what they looked like on the outside. She had felt this already inside her, but it was nurtured by her Uncle. It was positively solidified by her rescuer, her hero, Avid Surehammer.
That is why, if you ask for her full name, she will give it thusly:
Ahzyah "Surehammer" Evertruce. Not her real middle name, but real for her now. Real in her heart.
Today, I find her to still be a sweet kind funny yet still sad and slightly under confident woman. She is one who says "how fare thee?" not as a common everyday greeting but she MEANS it as a real question that she is listening for the answer to. She can be playful, but also unsure of herself at times. She is most hurt when she feels she has hurt somebody else, even when it is not her fault. She dislikes confrontation, but she will not shy away from fighting enemies in a dungeon, even as she attempts to understand their side of things. She is a fascinating combination of opposites, just as jet black hair is the total opposite of her severely white skin. Some may wish to make fun of her, see her as different, perhaps even make her an enemy and despise her (is it out of plain misunderstanding or active jealously?). But, she doesn't let them sour her sweetness. It doesn't stop her from giving a kind and empathically energizing word of encouragement to all she meets.
As to the present whereabouts of her saviour, Avid, or her Uncle, she is unsure. A part of her travels the world of Azeroth and beyond into the unknown dangers of the Outland and any other place that there may be in search of these two great men in her life. With their love, and her cause, she is in no hurry to find a man to bed or wed. She has her cause, and albeit it seems and feels sometimes to be a lonely one, she has by her selfless efforts made many friends across the worlds and feels confident in her DreamQuest. Still, her sorrow lingers on. It is not quite purged yet. She keeps it to herself, but sometimes it can be seen in her eyes and heard in her voice.
There is one thing for sure. If fate has you run across her path, and you see her true self, then blessings will miraculously be found in your life, even amongst the sorrow. It was a gift given to her, and she doesn't give it herself but more like allows it to come through her and be offered to you.
She will never divulge this to you, for she has the burden of secrets to keep, the lives of innocents to save with her silence. That is why, even here, in a place few if any will see, the details of her past are slight. They are not lies, but instead a way to speak of truths without harming innocents. She fears enemies from her past, if they found out she survived their last and greatest effort to extinguish her, would retaliate against her miraculous safety from said demise with utmost fury to all those even slightly associated with her. Part of her enemies, she has discovered recently, are also The Burning Legion. If they knew of her true past, and in detail, they would attempt to go back in time and stop her. This was a strong feeling she got ... recently finding out about the true goings-on in The Caverns of Time have only made her most feared intuition gain truth and given her great relief to her silence and careful telling, even here, of what her past entails. That is also why she will fight her hardest in those Caverns, to try to prevent what may very well happen to HER past if she were discovered or as famous as the ones that the Burning Legion plague thusly.
The fate of the Balance rests on many, and she is one of them. At all costs, The Burning Legion must not learn of her true past, present, or future. That is why many, like me, are with her till the end.
For the other great mystery, which she herself can only secretly harbor, is a tale that came to her from one of the rarest and most secretly held of books. A book of prophesies translated loosely as "The Autumn Chronicles". Some say she is not entirely human, but is an angel encased in flesh. The Draenei would have a different name for what is encased within her flesh. Others say that Ellune was the one that called her to that tree when her family house caught fire and saved her. As for Ahzyah, she will never divulge if such a rumor is true. In fact, because of the great secrecy of this so-called book of prophecies, such a rumor is most likely not even around or hinted at. She does it not just out of modesty, but duty to the Light. But, more than that, she does it to save us all, not from any ego from her, but from a selfless compassionate love for us all.
This is more of her story to tell yet ...
