Magister Luminash Dawnwing

Guilt (October Writing Challenge)

(Takes place prior to the conclusion of events at the Eternal Palace and Luminash’s departure from Nazjatar. )

“Hey, you’re here! Why stay up on the hill, anyway, mage-man?”

Luminash had come into Newhome only to pick up supplies, and had hoped to avoid any further contact with the locals. Mac, however, one of the Kelfin siblings who had helped the magister by salvaging naga sites throughout Nazjatar, had seen him, and eagerly run up to him.

“Ah, Mac, it is good to see you,” the magister deflected, “Have our Horde troops been suitable guests here?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve loved having them! Good people, your Horde, more than willing to help out. Half the hauls we’ve been sending your way have been brought in with their help, you know. Should thank them sometime!”

Luminash let the rapid, breathless barrage of words wash over him as he concluded his business with the quartermaster, taking a pack from her, and throwing it over his shoulder, the once-waterlogged leather creaking from the surplus of foodstuffs packed within.

“Perhaps I should. I truly do appreciate the assistance, Mac - be sure Kera knows too - but I must be going.”

Instead of allowing himself to be brushed off, the eager gilgoblin followed right along with Luminash on his way out of the camp, “You never answered me really. I mean, I know what Kera said: you claim to work better alone. But why’s that? Usually with what you’re doing, you’d have a team, right?”

Tensing at the mention of a team, Luminash stopped and turned on his heel to face Mac, his tone sharp, “A team? Yes, one normally would have one, but I do not. And since you will not simply leave me be, since you absolutely must know why, it is because I watched them die.”

Despite the sudden look of shock - and sadness - on Mac’s face, the magister continued, “Every last one of them, slaughtered in the muck of a vile swamp, and all for my sake. I wrote condolences by hand to their next of kin, I see them bleeding out in heaps of mud every night when I close my eyes, and I am the one who failed them!”

He turned, going silent as abruptly as he had snapped, and resumed his brisk walk out of Newhome. Once he had traveled a few paces, he concluded, his voice having softened somewhat, “That is why I stay alone. I will not let that happen again.”

Persistent to the last, Mac’s footsteps followed, and the magister felt a diminutive hand on his arm, “You’re not the only one to lose friends, mage-man. I can tell well enough now that you don’t want to, but if you ever change your mind, you know Kera and I are here to talk, right? Doesn’t always do much good to do what it is you’re doing.”

Luminash stopped, and sighed, finally acquiescing with a nod, “If I do change my mind, I will…let you know.” As the Kelfin began to depart, he added, “Thank you.”