𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭 (rewriting)

001 | a new dawn

during the first few months, she was an outcast. syrena resided to herself, as she was still not fully accepted into the rangers. but she proved herself time and time again. she was by far the most skilled fighter among them, having centuries of practice over the men in the group. she knew healing magic that could mend previously fatal wounds.

but many years later, she was one of the most respected members of the community; people smiled at her as she walked past, she had a say in the rules, and the destinations they travelled to. syrena had lived through generations of men living and dying. she had attended far too many funerals, but she prevailed. she transformed her grief into anger, taking it out on the packs of orcs she came across. she left each scene a bloody mess of strewn body parts, with not a scratch on her.

at first, her ruthlessness scared her. but now, she had accepted it as part of her. her bloodlust was just like her thirst for water, she craved the sight of black blood dripping from her elven blades. it made her feel in control. she was the one in power. she felt good killing orcs. it gave her a purpose.

   syrena often chose to go alone on these expeditions, or with cassius. he had descended from the númenóreans, and was one of the dúnedain, men blessed with the gift of a long life-span. he had been a ranger with her in her almost three decades, and the two had become extremely close friends. he was the only syrena confided in with the details her past. and vice versa, cassius had told eryn about his troubled past. he was orphaned at a very early age; his mother died of a deadly illness when he was merely eight months old, and his father slain by an orc when he was nine. he had lived with his uncle ever since, who was a master blacksmith with a desire to avenge the death of his brother by killing as many orcs as possible.

     cassius grew up wielding weapons and hating orcs, learning proper fighting stances from his deranged uncle to seemed to be slowly losing his mind.

    the duo of warriors sat in cassians tent, cleaning their blades stained with the blood of their victims. there seemed to be more orcs poisoning middle earth. darkness was looming. eryn had seen it once before. it was only a distant memory, from when she was just a child. the battle against mordor. sauron. the being who threatened to take over the once pure world.

"so, 'rena." cassius begun, looking up from his axe, his shaggy brown hair almost covering his dazzling jade green eyes. once eryn silently acknowledged him, he continued, "i do believe i won our little competition." he grinned smugly.

syrena rolled her eyes at him, "no, cass, you didn't." she was sure she had won. she always won.

the man patted her on the shoulder, "oh no, syrena. i counted." he winked at her, "i killed eleven orcs, you dealt with the other ten." he recalled. "and i know your large elven brain can handle some basic arithmetics and must know that eleven is, in fact, more than ten." he smirked, eyeing syrena amusingly.

"you counted wrong." syrena pried her best friends arm off her shoulder, going back to scrubbing her twin blades. every drop of blood had to disappear. her knives had to be pristine. they had once belonged to her mother, and had been carried back from gundabad. from that day, eryn decided she would specialise in knives, following in her mothers footsteps.

"that doesn't mean it is impossible for me to win. you need to face it, blondie, you simply aren't on my level."

"you're right." she cocked her head at him. shallow grey eyes meeting his which glistened with both shock and pride.

"you've really turned over a new leaf. hah, pun inten-" he begun to laugh at his own jokes, before syrena cut him off.

"i wasn't finished. what i was going to say, before your relentless, draining voice interrupted me, was that you're right, i'm not on your level, because i am simply that much better than you." she mused, smirking at cassius, who's expression twisted into one of utter betrayal.