The Curse of the Sands (Part 5)

“You speak of Tuya, don’t you...?” Amerie suddenly realized.

“I do.” Zii responded. Tuya, an odd name, but so memory jerking. The large lanky light blue-skinned man. She remembered him well; he was but a simple traveler when they had met him. Zii was curious as a younger child, and attempted to speak to the man. The man was a strange one indeed. His ears were long and seemed to jut backwards; his teeth were white and sharp, each of them like a shark’s. His interesting feature was his tusks. They protruded from his mouth like the horns of a bull. Short, curved, and viciously sharp. He had spoken to Zii only once, but it was enough to change his heart for his entire life.
Zii remembered the man. A troll most had called him, because of his features, though Zii knew better than to listen to the people around him, they spoke of bad things that this man brought, it only made him all the more curious. His only words were “May peace lay with thee, young child. For you will know no peace for the rest of your long life.” And Tuya had given him a gift, the gift of stealth, guile, grace, speed, and immense strength. Tuya’s hand had held Zii’s head like a small apple, and it had entered Zii’s mind. The alternate mind, it split in two and Zii was never the same. It had all come back to him, standing on the balcony. The robed warrior that showed no sign of age, had cursed him. Yet he knew Tuya had never left this desert. He was what created the storms, what caused the trouble in the sands, and what struck fear into the hearts of the natives of Tanaris.

“You will go then?” Amerie inquired. Syri looked at Zii with a grave expression,

“I will go sister, though I’ll need Jindo’ and Rakka.” His sister nodded and stood to her feet on the balcony, her balance, pristine. Zii looked into her glowing yellow eyes as he nodded and once more apologized.

“I’m sorry Amerie. I am sorry for what I have done and sorry I had not been a better brother in your mortal existence.” Amerie looked at Zii and smiled for the first time since she had passed on.

“My brother. I forgive you, and in the remembrance of Ix’iltrigotura, There is sanctity in death.” With her last words spoken she crouched down and leaped backwards, spreading her arms and swan-diving off of the balcony. Syri rush ahead and looked down as Amerie fell into a merchant’s canopy, light as a feather, and only disturbing it slightly.


Zii turned to Syri and grasped her tiny arms in his hands. “My love, I will live once more, be free and lead the Detch’kage with you. We will rebuild the clan and we will live in peace. I go to the sands to purify this desert and to bring order to Tanaris.” Syri looked at Zii with tears in her eyes, as they fell they left green trails on her cheeks. “Your eyes were always blessed with the truth, and you know that I do not lie to you. You have seen my future, and you have seen how I end. You know as well as I do that this is not the time, dry your flawless eyes and brave through the time with me.” He continued “We shall live forever into the time of this desert’s end. Though there is sanctity in death, there is never ending love in immortality.” Syri wrapped her arms around Zii slowly, hugging him tightly. She knew how this battle would end and she only wished she could do something to avert it.

The next morning Zii stood outside the gates of Gadgetzan, his sister at his side. They were both clad with weapons, though only Amerie bore her dark leather armor. Zii stood in the heat, unaffected, coated in gold and silver. His armor was heavy and bore down on him, yet he felt nothing. Only two weapons were strapped to him. One on his back, one at his side. One, Rakka Blade of the Keeper of Time. An onyx colored blade, the material used to forge the blade was from the black of a dragon’s tooth. The other Jindo’ a bright white blade, with a golden dragon overtaking the hilt, the blade protruding from its mouth. The blade was made of the Ivory from the same dragon’s horns. They were the blades of lore, those used to kill gods, those created by his father. The desert was quiet and ready to be taken. Zii looked to his sister and said, “You can still keep up like old times, right?” She nodded, her mask keeping her mute. Zii pulled his mask tightly over his mouth and nose. He could breath easy now.

He started off in a run that began to speed up, the ground becoming a blur under him. The sand ripping fast his face like claws tearing at his skin. He was used to it, nothing could phase him at this age. The sand became one large color as the ground disappeared, he could feel Amerie at his side running in time with him. He slowed his pace only slightly to see the sands stirring miles away from him, a small tornado forming. Tuya knew he was coming, so he headed directly into the storm. His sister turning with him. Running on the dunes they left no trace, their speed unparalleled by anything natural, the dunes remaining pristine. The sand exploded off to the right of Zii as a large scorpion erupted from the storm. Petty mortal beings, Zii and Amerie thought at the same time as they rushed at the scorpion. Zii ran directly at the scorpion’s front end punching it in the midriff with a power that could have shattered walls, as his sister ran past and grabbed its tail. Swinging it past her as she ran she turned to catch up with her brother. Never stopping their movements they approached the storm as the sands began to harden and become large chunks of ground. The storm throwing the earth at them like a ball Zii and Amerie threw punches at the chunks of rock being heaved at them. Blasting through each one with ease and leaping off every other one, they flew into the storm. The tornado ripping at their every sides they stood in the middle. They held each other tightly in a hug as the storm lifted them off their feet, bringing them up off of the ground.

“Take me now thy beast of the sands. I come for you and only you, no others shall stand in my way as I pray for conquest.” Zii and Amerie muttered under their masks, their eyes closed. The incantation of old. The gods looked down upon those who spoke the words and brought them before the god themselves to deal with the punishment of heresy. Now it was simply a request for revenge as Zii and Amerie were thrown from the tornado towards the heavy mountains of Tanaris. The dunes flying past them all the while. Zii managed to look up as they were thrown to see a large broken down castle, almost human made, flying towards them. He looked at Amerie for a split second as she nodded in reply. They both pushed off of each other at the same time and both falling into a separate dune. Sand flying over the crest of the dune, they both stepped from the dunes and waved at each other from yards away. They began their run once more towards the tall gates of the hold, passing skeletons that had yet to be buried and more than half-buried ballista’s. The gates had no doors anymore; they both lay fallen in the sand.

They entered the castle but found it was only one room. A large room. A torn red carpet donned the room from the entrance of the door. All the way until the end. A throne stood tall at the end of the room. Blood lay strewn all over its golden outlay. In the throne sat a large, very large Tuya. Donning golden armor with studs on one shoulder pad and a hook on the other. His armor was made of a sand-hardened, hate-crafted metal. Zii took his steps forward with malice, as Amerie followed behind.

“Chu’ ha’ come fah’ me?” Tuya asked in a heavy accent.

“I have Tuya. It has been years since you gifted me with this curse. I seek to end you, to end the curse.”

Tuya’s laugh echoed around the halls with a vengeance that could have made grown men fear the dark. He stood from his throne, moving his restless shoulders, flexing each of the three fingers on his hands. He was immense since the last time Zii saw him.