Draenor, Hux had decided some time ago, was the single worst deployment he'd ever suffered. The entire bloody planet seemed to be steeped in an ever-present, oppressive humidity that drew like syrup into his lungs. Something tried its level best to kill him every three steps, it was absolutely crawling with those insufferably self-righteous space goats, and the entire Horde leadership was too busy wringing their hands over preventing the misuse of fel energies to even think about all the new and interesting ways it could be used as a tool of war.
The only upside the planet was rife with ley currents and places where the barrier between reality and the Nether was thin as parchment, which allowed a warlock as talented as Hux an endless supply of fascinating experiments. Draenor was even more ripe with the arcane than Azeroth, if one excluded ancient phenomena from the equation. He wondered whether it was the swirling aura of ley energies around the planet that attracted the draenei in the first place or whether it was a side effect of their not inconsiderable reliance on the arcane to power their technologies.
If only he could get at some of their settlements, examine the crystalline power structures they favored. They seemed so similar to the fel crystals Kael'thas Sunstrider had instructed his people in the use of in the time after Silvermoon's Fall, and Hux itched to get his hands on one. Several.
It wasn't to be - Shadowmoon Valley now served as the Alliance's stronghold as surely as Frostfire Ridge served the Horde. Hux could brood about the disparity in supply lines all he liked - the native orc shamans of Draenor were impressive, but in his mind did not compare to the arcane constructs of the draenei - but Warchief Vol'jin had specifically instructed that they not antagonize the Alliance, and so he would comply. Reluctantly.
The chokingly humid jungle of Gorgrond was, unfortunately, also one of the places where ley activity was the strongest. Hux had spent four days here so far, dismissing the garrison soldiers the Horde had tried to assign him with a sneer and venturing into the wilds with only his felhunter for protection. For all of command's talk about how dangerous it was here, Hux had not yet come across an enemy he and Millicent couldn't handle. He also hadn't seen another soldier - Horde or Alliance - since leaving the outpost. The solitude suited him.
Which was why, when the sounds of clashing steel and dying screams interrupted his latest attempt to tease open a tiny warp in the barrier to the Nether, Hux's teeth ground together and he whirled in a swirl of poison-green robes to find the culprit.
Through a small copse of thorny brush trees, the source of the disturbance was apparent - one of the massive, lumbering genesaurs, with its spear three times as tall as the average blood elf, had apparently been provoked by the armored figure that stood opposite it, frost riming the ground at his feet and his black cloak snapping with his movements. He wielded an improbably large greatsword, lit by a sickly blue glow. As Hux watched, the glow flared, and two runes slithered down the length of the blade. If the devastating crosswise blow hadn't given it away, full of razor-sharp icicles and biting cold, those runes did. The death knight stepped back, uncaring, as the genesaur staggered backward and then fell heavily, its chest carved open in the wake of the strike.
Hux emerged from the thicket as the genesaur landed with enough force to vibrate the ground. "Messy," he commented.
The knight whirled on him, one hand shooting out in Hux's direction. Phantom fingers closed around his throat, stoppering his voice and caging his magic behind his teeth. It squeezed tightly, lifting Hux off his feet and slamming him against one of the nearby trees - if he hadn't been breathless already, it would have winded him.
He clawed at the pressure around his throat as the knight paced closer, the frigid glow of his eyes only visible through a bare slit in the helmet. A curl of arousal started low in his belly, and Hux would have huffed in annoyance if he had the breath to do it. Millicent moved to attack and Hux snapped his fingers, calling the felhound to heel even if he didn't have the voice to express the command.
Just as darkness began encroaching on the edges of his vision, the pressure vanished. The back of Hux's robes scraped against the tree as he fell, gaining his feet through sheer force of will. He rasped a word, fel energies leaping to his call now that the inexorable pressure was gone, and spat the release viciously.
Agony hit its mark - the knight rocked with the impact of it, and Hux could see the haze of fel magic sweeping over his armor in waves. Then the knight closed the distance between them in two strides, his blade at Hux's throat, flat pressing hard enough to make breathing uncomfortable again. They were close enough that Hux could feel the biting cold of the knight even through his robes, close enough to be breathing the same air - if the death knight were breathing. Hux had never been this close to one before and found, to his fascination, that there was no motion to the other elf's chest, no puff of breath from his mouth.
"Warlock," the knight said, that strange echoing quality making his voice seem like it came from the bottom of a well. "You disturbed me."
"You accomplished that first." Hux's voice still had a rasp to it, owing to being nearly choked to death not a few seconds before. He tipped his head at the genesaur, heedless of the sword at his throat. "Those things lumber so loudly they should be simple to avoid."
"If avoiding them is what you mean to do." The knight looked him over, a dispassionate curiosity in the glow of his gaze. "I have been stationed at the outpost for some weeks now and have never seen you."
"My experiments are best conducted in solitude."
The death knight hummed tunelessly, still considering Hux. "You called the felhunter off. Why?"
"I can handle myself." It was the work of a second to flatten his palm over the death knight's breastplate and hiss another spell, send another wave of pain.
The death knight shuddered and crowded him closer against the tree. The edge of his sword drew blood, thick droplets that rolled across the glowing runes. The knight's chest expanded - a parody of an intake of breath, for a creature that no longer needed to breathe. "Pain, warlock? You must not have faced many of my brethren in battle. We are tempered in pain. Steeped in it. For us, it is..." here he leaned in, almost like he was scenting Hux's blood as it smeared across his runeblade. "...pleasurable."
"I didn't think your kind could feel anything, let alone pleasure." The knight leaned into his sword with more force, and another trickle of blood ran down its flat. The revelation was enough to make renewed interest thrum through Hux's blood. Hux had never been the kind to distract himself with meaningless ventures, but if the opportunity was presented, he didn't see why he shouldn't take it. He stared into the cold glow of the knight's eyes and smirked. "Does that mean you'll choke me again if I ask nicely?"
FILL: Asphyxiate 1/2 (Kylo/Hux - World of Warcraft AU)
The only upside the planet was rife with ley currents and places where the barrier between reality and the Nether was thin as parchment, which allowed a warlock as talented as Hux an endless supply of fascinating experiments. Draenor was even more ripe with the arcane than Azeroth, if one excluded ancient phenomena from the equation. He wondered whether it was the swirling aura of ley energies around the planet that attracted the draenei in the first place or whether it was a side effect of their not inconsiderable reliance on the arcane to power their technologies.
If only he could get at some of their settlements, examine the crystalline power structures they favored. They seemed so similar to the fel crystals Kael'thas Sunstrider had instructed his people in the use of in the time after Silvermoon's Fall, and Hux itched to get his hands on one. Several.
It wasn't to be - Shadowmoon Valley now served as the Alliance's stronghold as surely as Frostfire Ridge served the Horde. Hux could brood about the disparity in supply lines all he liked - the native orc shamans of Draenor were impressive, but in his mind did not compare to the arcane constructs of the draenei - but Warchief Vol'jin had specifically instructed that they not antagonize the Alliance, and so he would comply. Reluctantly.
The chokingly humid jungle of Gorgrond was, unfortunately, also one of the places where ley activity was the strongest. Hux had spent four days here so far, dismissing the garrison soldiers the Horde had tried to assign him with a sneer and venturing into the wilds with only his felhunter for protection. For all of command's talk about how dangerous it was here, Hux had not yet come across an enemy he and Millicent couldn't handle. He also hadn't seen another soldier - Horde or Alliance - since leaving the outpost. The solitude suited him.
Which was why, when the sounds of clashing steel and dying screams interrupted his latest attempt to tease open a tiny warp in the barrier to the Nether, Hux's teeth ground together and he whirled in a swirl of poison-green robes to find the culprit.
Through a small copse of thorny brush trees, the source of the disturbance was apparent - one of the massive, lumbering genesaurs, with its spear three times as tall as the average blood elf, had apparently been provoked by the armored figure that stood opposite it, frost riming the ground at his feet and his black cloak snapping with his movements. He wielded an improbably large greatsword, lit by a sickly blue glow. As Hux watched, the glow flared, and two runes slithered down the length of the blade. If the devastating crosswise blow hadn't given it away, full of razor-sharp icicles and biting cold, those runes did. The death knight stepped back, uncaring, as the genesaur staggered backward and then fell heavily, its chest carved open in the wake of the strike.
Hux emerged from the thicket as the genesaur landed with enough force to vibrate the ground. "Messy," he commented.
The knight whirled on him, one hand shooting out in Hux's direction. Phantom fingers closed around his throat, stoppering his voice and caging his magic behind his teeth. It squeezed tightly, lifting Hux off his feet and slamming him against one of the nearby trees - if he hadn't been breathless already, it would have winded him.
He clawed at the pressure around his throat as the knight paced closer, the frigid glow of his eyes only visible through a bare slit in the helmet. A curl of arousal started low in his belly, and Hux would have huffed in annoyance if he had the breath to do it. Millicent moved to attack and Hux snapped his fingers, calling the felhound to heel even if he didn't have the voice to express the command.
Just as darkness began encroaching on the edges of his vision, the pressure vanished. The back of Hux's robes scraped against the tree as he fell, gaining his feet through sheer force of will. He rasped a word, fel energies leaping to his call now that the inexorable pressure was gone, and spat the release viciously.
Agony hit its mark - the knight rocked with the impact of it, and Hux could see the haze of fel magic sweeping over his armor in waves. Then the knight closed the distance between them in two strides, his blade at Hux's throat, flat pressing hard enough to make breathing uncomfortable again. They were close enough that Hux could feel the biting cold of the knight even through his robes, close enough to be breathing the same air - if the death knight were breathing. Hux had never been this close to one before and found, to his fascination, that there was no motion to the other elf's chest, no puff of breath from his mouth.
"Warlock," the knight said, that strange echoing quality making his voice seem like it came from the bottom of a well. "You disturbed me."
"You accomplished that first." Hux's voice still had a rasp to it, owing to being nearly choked to death not a few seconds before. He tipped his head at the genesaur, heedless of the sword at his throat. "Those things lumber so loudly they should be simple to avoid."
"If avoiding them is what you mean to do." The knight looked him over, a dispassionate curiosity in the glow of his gaze. "I have been stationed at the outpost for some weeks now and have never seen you."
"My experiments are best conducted in solitude."
The death knight hummed tunelessly, still considering Hux. "You called the felhunter off. Why?"
"I can handle myself." It was the work of a second to flatten his palm over the death knight's breastplate and hiss another spell, send another wave of pain.
The death knight shuddered and crowded him closer against the tree. The edge of his sword drew blood, thick droplets that rolled across the glowing runes. The knight's chest expanded - a parody of an intake of breath, for a creature that no longer needed to breathe. "Pain, warlock? You must not have faced many of my brethren in battle. We are tempered in pain. Steeped in it. For us, it is..." here he leaned in, almost like he was scenting Hux's blood as it smeared across his runeblade. "...pleasurable."
"I didn't think your kind could feel anything, let alone pleasure." The knight leaned into his sword with more force, and another trickle of blood ran down its flat. The revelation was enough to make renewed interest thrum through Hux's blood. Hux had never been the kind to distract himself with meaningless ventures, but if the opportunity was presented, he didn't see why he shouldn't take it. He stared into the cold glow of the knight's eyes and smirked. "Does that mean you'll choke me again if I ask nicely?"