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Yujiro's story

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                                         Yujiro’s Story: The tale of a fallen Warrior




Maybe you don’t really care, maybe you’ll feel I’ve wasted your time in the end, I’m not telling you to listen to me, I just happen to be here right now in this crappy tavern alone and feeling like talking.
I don’t know you, hell I don’t really want to know you either but I’m going to tell you my life story. I hope you like stories.

My name is Yujiro, and here I am today in this town called Stormwind. I’ve heard this city had a good reputation, that the people who live here are happy, rich and healthy; all I’m seeing here tonight is a bunch of bastards walking around looking like undeads under the glow of the weak lights and the moon. Dogs are fighting over a rotting piece of meat, and beggars are halfway dead in almost every damn street corner. This city sure isn’t like what I’ve heard of it. But it’s alright for a man like me. I’ll probably be far away from here tomorrow anyway.

I am a wanderer, but I used to live a normal life back then in Darnassus, many, many years ago. Damn I miss my place… and my loved one. It all started there.


I was once a young man, full of hope. I used to cherish every moments of my life, I thought I was the happiest boy of Kalimdor.
My father was a proud warrior who assisted many great wars and always came back alive, one war after another. He taught me all I needed to know about war and self-defense back then when I was a kid.

I was always impressed whenever I would hurt myself during training, my mother would use some strange magic on me, and quickly I would recover and be ready to continue fighting. My father was always laughing when he would wound me. Back then I was angry at him mocking me for that, but now that I think about it today, I laugh too.






The tension in the city was rising and I could feel it. I was sometimes hearing folks talking about an imminent war. Blacksmiths were increasing their production rate and other temporary forges were built. At times I would surprise my parents whispering about the subject.

In no time my parents came up to me and announced me that they had to leave for a couple of weeks.
Without lying they explained the situation to me. I couldn’t blame them; they were obligated to go and fight. Not like it was the first time it happened anyway. I asked why my mother was leaving as well; she told me that she thought I was old enough to take care of the house by myself now. Now I know that the true reason was because she knew this war would be bigger than the previous ones and she was afraid to stay home and let my father go alone and take the risk he would die without being of any help.
Soon enough the city of Darnassus was empty and only a few kids and elders were remaining on the streets.


Time was passing by very slowly; I was practicing alone and was taking care of the house.
Many days passed, many months maybe.
One day I just came to realize they would never come back. I lost hope in seeing them again.

Several months later, the survivors came back to the city. More than half of them were badly injured. Most were carrying dead bodies of people they didn’t want to leave on the battlefield.

Then I saw my father in the line of survivors, walking slowly, head down, with a body wrapped in cloths. It didn’t take me a long time to realize who was in there.
My mother, which I loved so much, died on the battlefield.
My father never was the same after that. He never told me about what happened there and to my mother. Every day since he came back, he was kneeling down in front of my mother’s tomb, not moving from there until sunset.  I was sad and confused about how to react. I was trying to talk to him but never a word would come out of his mouth, as if I wasn’t there. I was very sad.

One night, when I was half asleep, I saw him by my door, standing; staring at me silently, and then leave after a short while.

He was dead when I woke up the next day, the pain and sorrow killed him in his sleep. He failed to defend my mother in battle. He probably felt he didn’t deserve to stay alive and just abandoned his body to go and meet my mother in the otherworld again.


I continued to live on my own, confused and alone for two or three years. There was still that war going on and I was not sure if it would ever end. All I knew is that they needed more men for war and I was too young to be able to join. I had pretty much nothing to lose; my only purpose to live was to avenge my parents, I also tried many times to fool the authorities about my age to be able to join the war. I guess I looked young to a point they could tell it only by looking at me.

Time passed, I grew up, I’ve met new people, especially this young girl that had a story pretty much similar to mine. She lost her family as well when she was younger. I thought I had a sad past, I felt I was not alone when I knew the same and even worse happened to her. This very fact used to link us emotionally, the fact that we went through the same pain and both got over it, as hard as it was.

Liara was her name. We were seeing each other very often and something strong, a feeling, was building up between us.
I couldn’t stop thinking about her, I was in love, and she loved me as well.
Her pretty smile, her exceptional kindness, her beautiful body…her happiness… despite what she lived.
I will never forget the times where I used to take her to the shore at night, when the water was peaceful, swimming together under the moon glow and the fresh breeze of the night.
Nothing could ever compare to the joy and passion we both shared especially on those mystic nights. Those are probably the most precious memories I have, graved in my mind forever, amongst tainted and dark remembrances I accumulated in the future. Liara was all I needed in my life to be happy.
At this point I was considering my future with her, thinking about moving somewhere more peaceful, away from the war and conflicts, perhaps across the sea somewhere.

I heard of a land where different races were living mixed together. At the time I never left my home land. I only knew it from all the stories and tales my father used to tell me when I was young, what he saw at war and the allied races he fought with.
There were the gnomes, very small beings, using explosives and other magic tricks to help them on the battlefield. Then there were the dwarves which were a bit taller but still short compared to my father, very broad and steady, bearing a huge beard and an incredibly deep voice. He told me those people were especially good with ranged weapons, that they could shoot a bullet between the eyes of the enemy from a very large range. Most of his companions of war however were humans which he got along better; they were a bit shorter than him, had pale skin and were in general physically very strong. Most of them were experts in melee combat and strong warriors overall. I still remember the combat techniques he taught me which he learned from humans.

We proceeded to make our journey across the sea on the back of Hippogryphs. It took us two days straight to reach the land where we landed in small village named Auberdine. This “village” was more of a waypoint for travelers to stop and rest for a while.
Days passed, we left Auberdine and traveled across the elven lands. We finally found what we were searching for, the perfect place to live.
A small village named Astranaar, about ten days walk away from Auberdine. This village, far away from any other cities, peaceful, charming, and most important, away from war and sin, was the place where I built our house.
Not so far from the shore, we enjoyed every moments we lived there. During the day we would go hunt in the old forests surrounding us, at night we would walk on the shore and swim like we used to do. From times to times we would go swim in the sacred moon wells.
I remember the exceptional talent Liara had with a bow, the precision of her shots, hell I didn’t even need to draw my sword, she used to do all the hunting job alone.

We noticed marauders roaming around the village almost since the day we established ourselves around there. I thought of them as possible threats, and I was always ready to draw my sword as soon as one of them would come too close to the village, or the house. However I never really had to. On their way they were avoiding and going around the village. I was starting to be used to see those… creatures…, always traveling in gang of two or three, some were taller than me, beastly looking, huge creatures with horns and hoofs, others were similar to humans but with green skin, savage-looking face with large teeth. I saw some others at times which I confused with Orcs, they had big tusks, nose and some bizarre haircuts. They were rare; I had the chance to see only a few of them and they were rarely mixed with other races.

It happened a couple of times were some looked more aggressive than others and would try to sneak into the village, unseen by the guards, but every time the sentinel guards would either kill them or wound them to a point they would just go back from where they came from.

The most enjoyable years of my life passed, until my destiny led me to a cruel faith once more.
One night alone on the dock, enjoying the night breeze away from the village, I had a flash in my head; I could feel something just happened, something that would change my life…forever.

Somehow I knew exactly where to go to see it with my own eyes. I ran as fast as I could for so long that my lungs were hurting and my body was moving by itself.

There was Liara, lying there, dead on the floor of our house, slaughtered. I knew it was over already. Two major wounds on her throat and body. She had her bow in hand, two other bodies were lying next to her, one was one of those semi beast creatures, and he had an arrow between the eyes and was lying not so far from the other, who was an Orc, he had two arrows in the chest… I saw traces of blood on the floor, there was a path, and obviously there was more than two who came in here. One of the survivors who ran away was wounded, that’s all I knew.

Anger, rage, hate and sadness combined, my mind was thinking so fast it was almost impossible to get my ideas straight.
Why and how did they get here? Why Liara, why here in this village, why at this time. As I recall something like this never happened so far since I live in this village.
I couldn’t take the time to plan what I was doing, the only thing I was thinking about is retracing the bastards who did this, slaughter them and make sure it hurts… in the worst kind of way.
I laid her dead body on our bed, for now, after telling my prayers to her I made haste, quickly equipped the pieces of armor I had and my sword.
Judging the footsteps on the ground they were walking and I could see the path they took by the drops of blood on the ground. There was only a few but it’s all I needed.
I was losing my breath but not my will, running even if I was not physically able anymore. The only thought about letting loose those who killed my loved one… all I cared about in this world, run away freely was giving me all the strength I needed.

There they were, in sight, walking on the main road slowly, they were carrying their wounded companion on their shoulders. They were four, plus those who died back there, which makes six… never so many travelled together, what was going on, I had no clue.
Will I be able to beat the four of them I thought, I wasn’t sure, what I was sure however was the fact I would do everything I can to kill them all and make them suffer.
Suddenly they started walking faster, changing direction; they entered the forest next to the path. Did they see me or was this their destination. I would not be able to evaluate the time it took me to catch up on them, maybe more than four hours. I entered in the forest; I could guess the path they took judging by the broken branches and the footsteps on the ground. It was calm… maybe a bit too calm.
I could see some light through the foliage far away. Was that one of their village, I wasn’t sure. The more I was approaching, the more it answered my question. I could hear them yell, laugh and scream from where I was. This was definitely an Orcish outpost. Closing by, I was making sure I could not be seen, it wasn’t the moment. I was starting to wonder how I would find the murderers in there.

I heard a small noise behind me.
“BAM “
Too late, they got me…
I could hardly remain conscious…

They noticed I was following them; they’ve wait for an opportunity to knock me down with a powerful mace hit behind the head. I fell down but at the last second I had the chance to see who hit me… before fainting.

A strong punch in the face woke me up.
I realized my hands and feet were tied up, they put me on my knees. They were speaking. I didn’t understand a word of what they were saying.
I was in the middle of the base camp apparently, every soldiers made a circle around me. The guards were in the front, and some leaders were discussing incomprehensive words to each other.
I was about to get killed I thought, I had to get out alive to avenge Liara, somehow.

One of them came up to me and said something I couldn’t understand. He kicked me in the face when he saw I didn’t get what he was trying to say. He then yelled something out loud, just a word, maybe a name, I thought.
An old Orc wearing a hood came near the crowd and started talking to the leader. The old one seemed to agree and looked at me. He said:
“You follow us Orcs here, are you spy? “
I understood quickly he was the only one who was able to speak my language, I answered him that I was following them because I wanted to kill them, and I even asked if I could have a duel against the one who murdered the woman I loved.
He didn’t seem to understand half of what I told him, he just grinned and translated to the leader, who then started to laugh.

The leader then yelled something to the crowd, they started looking at each other, and I could see the questioning in their faces.
The one who hit me earlier came out of the crowd, as well as 2 others. I understood that the leader actually called them out.
Two guards untied me and made me get on my feet while still holding me strongly. The leader yelled again, and then the Orc who stunned me earlier walked into the ring of spectators. He looked over confident with a little grin on his face. He was looking at me right into the eyes as he was sharpening his weapon, a two-handed war axe, with a rock.
Excellent, I thought. I was given the chance to fight at least one of them.
The crowd was cheering and yelling, the leader then threw some rusty sword at me and yelled out loud, I heard a drum sound, the duel started.

I was on a defensive stance, waiting for his first move. He grabbed his axe with his two hands fiercely, made a final grin and charged in my direction. I could see he had fighting skills only by this opening move, the speed he had despite the weight of the weapon was incredible and his steps were accurate. He made a 360 degree spin with his axe to give more power to his blow, I barely dodged it and I think I would have died if his hit would have landed on me.
There was my chance, while he was regaining his fighting stance slowly due to the weight of his weapon, I grabbed my rusty sword, jumped and landed a fatal blow right on his neck. It all happened really fast. His chopped head fell on the ground; his body was still on his feet for two seconds, before collapsing completely afterwards.



There was a huge silence within the crowd. I could even hear the wood cracking in the bonfire behind them. Suddenly they all started yelling furiously at what they saw. Their prisoner slaughtered one of their good warriors. I could feel the rage in every one of them. The war chief was speechless, apparently still trying to figure out the mistake he did my letting me duel him. I, personally, was laughing silently at the situation. I could feel a huge relieve in killing him, one of those who murdered my woman… but deep inside there was still this feeling that it wasn’t over yet.

Two of them entered in the ring. They seemed enraged, drooling and it looked like their veins were almost popping out of their head, they were ready to make dog food out of me. I felt, I was sure, that they were the two others who murdered Liara. They were probably on the shock seeing their friend die right in front of them and they couldn’t do anything to help him. They yelled in the direction of the war chief. Their yells made the ground shake. The leader was looking at them speechless. They probably asked him if they could fight me to avenge their dead friend.

The chief made a sign with his head saying no. He talked calmly to them, from his tone of voice he was probably saying that one loss was already enough and there was no point dueling again, risking other losses. Trying to calm them down, I saw it wasn’t working.

The leader seemed to be losing authority seeing that those two were yelling and starting to threaten him with half of the crowd also on their side. They were all yelling at each other, half of the crowd was with the leader; the other half was with the two who just lost their friend.
All of a sudden the leader drags his sword, walks in front of them and chops the head off of one of the two, the Orc who was talking the most, in an attempt in regaining authority.

He yelled something I didn’t understand. At this point the crowd was shocked and furious. They all engaged in a general battle against each other; it seemed almost half was on the leader’s side and half was on the semi-beast side, the only one left. He was huge compared to the Orcs and even to the leader. Swinging his mace was hitting more than one at the same time.
Something told me then that the true assassin and the cause of the dead of my woman was this brute. I felt it. I was now certain.
I had to find a way to slay him too.
The battle was still going, blood was flowing and somehow they seemed blinded by their fury and forgot about me.
I needed a better weapon than this small rusty sword I still had in my hand, but I thought that if I started moving they would notice me and that would probably make me their first target, the source of the conflict.

I had to make a move anyway. I started running only to realize I had a severe pain in my right leg. That would not make things easy but I had to stick to my plan.
I saw a claymore on the ground near one of a dead Orc bodies.
This was the weapon I needed to be able to fight to full potential. I ran to it and grabbed it. Out of his killing frenzy, the semi-beast noticed my actions and started walking right to me, pushing the others in his way. Most of them stopped fighting as they knew something was about to happen. The semi beast was standing right in front of me, with blood splashes all over his body and wielding his giant wooden mace. He was at least one meter taller, and his horns alone were taller than my sword, basically a walking wall of muscle.
He yelled something and the crowd backed off slowly.
I quickly noticed a bad wound on his right arm. There was his weakness and I had to take advantage of it.

He grabbed his weapon and hit the ground with it, making it shake on the impact. He was ready and so was I. I could see an opening, the way he was holding his mace was allowing me a potential move on his arm wound.

He charged me like a beast would do, heads first with his two horns pointing at me. I had to dodge this, but as soon as I did, he delivered a fast hit with his mace, which I barely blocked with my sword.
He was vicious and fast despite his gargantuan size. Better than the one I just fought.
I saw him look at his arm wound as if he didn’t want to show his pain, but I clearly understood it was making movement difficult for him.
I then figured out how I would deal with the situation. I proceeded and evaded all of his blows. His size made in sort I could easily read his moves as soon as he initiated them.
Big or not, he was starting to lose speed and strength, swinging this huge mace and dealing with his wound at the same time.

There he was, breathing like he was exhausted and bleeding badly from his open wound. He attempted a powerful left blow which I easily dodged and quickly stroked him hard right in the throat for a fatal blow. He tried to breathe as he was still on his foot with his head up; bleeding all over his body from my blow.
He then collapsed on the ground in his puddle of blood, making the ground shake by his weight.

I then knew my vengeance was completed. It was clear in my soul; he was the one who killed Liara, my beloved one. All the sorrow I had deep in my heart was relieved somehow, I felt I accomplished what I had to do for her.

The remaining ones were standing around me, speechless once more, in a fury they probably never felt before. I thought this time I would not be able to survive, they were too many with only one target: me.
They jumped on me, I tried to defend myself but there was nothing I could do. They hit me repeatedly, I fell on the ground, they held me so strong they broke bones in my arms. I was not feeling pain anymore after this beating. They grabbed my head and brought me right in front of the bonfire.
One of them yelled something. The one who was holding my head put my face right in the fire. I was not feeling pain earlier, but I could feel this pain. I felt my face skin melting in the flames, I heard them laugh and yell furiously. This was the most terrible pain I’ve ever felt.

Suddenly they dropped me on the ground, they looked in the opposite direction, it was chaotic but I could hear the elvish battle horns, the arrows piercing the wind and thrusting through the chest of the Orcs, growls of Nightsabers and swings of swords slicing apart the remaining foes.
I then fainted due to the incredible pain.




I woke up in a temple, an elven temple; I was lying on a bed and noticed my head and leg were wrapped with bandages and leaves. The more I regained consciousness, the more I was feeling the atrocious pain I still had.

An elven woman came to me, checked the status of my wounds and changed my bandages. She wrapped my face while letting an opening for me to be able to see, and then told me I was going to be fine and I needed to get some more sleep. Apparently my eyes were still fine.

I woke up three days after. Three days of constant sleep. My memory was clearer and I could recall everything, from Liara to when I fainted because of the pain of the burn.
Then followed countless days of mental and physical pain, sorrow and sadness. I felt I should have died during the incident; I wanted to hold my beloved one once more and erase everything that happened.
I lost complete interest in life.

I fell asleep and felt my soul leave my body. I was now floating in a dark ocean of nothingness; I felt very light and wasn’t feeling pain anymore. I then saw this small orb of light at an unknown distance but seemingly very far from me.
I flew to it, and losing the notion of time I felt years passed by, but finally I was getting closer; I could see it getting bigger, until I finally reached it.

The orb of light started talking to me. It was the voice of Liara. The smoke then moved around to form the shape of her head. There she was. I wanted to touch her, to kiss her, to tell her I was sorry, but words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
She started talking. Her words were like a riddle, I was quietly listening to her and a feeling of peace, which I didn’t feel since she died, embraced my body.

“Live your life my love, be happy. I love you with all my heart. What happened to me was not your fault, I am here now and this was my destiny. You destiny is to live and come back to me when your time will come. I will wait for you here. I will be near you forever, and will meet you in your dreams… Live… Go back now. ”

My emotions were mixing up, but I approved with a head sign. She made a final smile at me and then faded in an explosion of white light.

I then woke up.

A lot of people were around me. Seemingly amazed I woke up.
They then told me they thought I passed away. I smiled at them peacefully. My destiny was to live; therefore I shall fulfill my beloved one’s will and live my life until my faith would put an end to it.

Time passed by. Months after months, years after years, my wounds recovered, but I still had this awful burn that mutilated my face which would stay forever.



I’ve met new people over the years, made new friends, my life was getting better, Liara was with me all the time, I could feel her whenever I thought about her.

A good human friend of mine helped me creating a mask, a mask I could wear which had the exact appearance I had before. With the mask it looked like it was actually my real face, only it doesn't move as I talk or smile.

The war was still going. Needless to say I participated to every wars that followed. I never died on the battlefield. I was most of the time in the first ranks, alone between more than ten enemies at the same time; I always made my way through it. Nothing could stop me anymore. I was being helped on the battlefield by Liara’s ethereal presence.

Not even a scar added to my previous ones, nothing. I was invincible.
Time passed and peace came back once more to the elven lands.

I went back to Darnassus from time to time. My old house was inhabited by new residents. It was not my house anymore, but I still visited my parents tomb and say my prayers every time.
I also went back to my other house near Auberdine to visit Liara's grave. The house was still there, abandoned. I burned it down with all the beautiful and grim memories linked to it and never went back there again.

It’s been five years I wander across the world, stopping from places to places, looking for something to do, friends to gamble with, restaurants to discover, but mainly people to help. I am a defender of justice, I help the weak and that is what motivates me to carry on with my life.


Here I am today, talking about all of this to you. This is where faith brought me tonight, and who knows where I will be tomorrow.

I now know why my loved one wanted me to live. Liara, you knew I would be able to help the weak, save lives, enjoy time spent with new friends. And for that I thank you.

Somehow I feel my destiny is not yet accomplished. There is still something I have to do in this world before meeting you again in the otherworld.
But who knows what, and who knows when. Only time will tell. Tomorrow is another day. Let’s see what it has to offer.






The end
Hey all :)

I promised I'd finish the background story which involved two of the drawings I've done a while ago; Yujiro; Night Elf warrior: [link] and A precious memory: [link] .

So well, here it is! :D
It's a 10 pages story, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it. btw Im not a native english speaker, so don't be too harsh! :)

~Shin
© 2008 - 2024 Shinsen
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pkusp92's avatar
I remember reading it for the first time back a year or so, amazing , it took me into a world that my imagination made based on what the writer said, simply amazing :)