(StarbucksMan274)
Chapter One:
“The Quest for Power”
“Let’s see, he wanted me to go kill seven Tenders…or was it six? Ah, this is enough to make you want to tear your hair from your head!” I exclaimed to myself, thinking hard. I started away from my quest issuer and towards a large group of small yet animated trees, which were Tenders.
I always looked up to Prince Kael’Thas as a hero. He was the reason I even started adventuring. The chance to be by his side in the Outlands was almost too much for me. While he was an extremely powerful Blood Mage, I was still a weak Warlock, but I was going to change that. It was worth the inconvenience of doing these miscellaneous tasks. I looked at one of the elementals ahead of me; it moved around in a group, similar to the other ones. I was about to cast a shadow bolt at it when something hit my mind hard and unexpectedly. It wasn’t anything bad. No, this felt like the magical energy that our people had once had readily available. Normally, someone would come and tell me off, saying it was bad. Nobody was around here. It was my chance to get the energy.
This could save you years of time in your quest to become powerful! I thought to myself with a grin. I looked down to where I detected it from. In the ground was a small hole with a faint green aura around it. Long ago, Prince Kael’Thas had taught our race how to tap into energy; it appeared that I would finally get to test it. I concentrated hard on the source and could feel it flowing readily to me. I opened my eyes as it was happening. I felt very alive, maybe more than I have ever felt before. Just as I was beginning to fully enjoy it, it started to thin and diminish slowly.
Like any of the blood elves on this island would have done, I searched to see if it was really gone. To my pleasure, it was not, but it was deep underground and too far down to tap effectively. I sighed to myself and began walking towards the group of Tenders I was supposed to be killing. I concentrated on casting my shadow bolt with mild interest, since I was still sad about missing out on the energy. When I cast the bolt at the Tender, it was not the relatively damaging bolt I had cast before. The bolt completely vaporized the Tender and blasted the group it was with twenty feet away. From that, it had burnt the ground and sent a tree falling to the ground. I stepped back and looked at my hands. Did I really just do that?
I laughed aloud. It mattered no longer to me about killing these stupid Tenders. With this power, I was ready to take on much, much bigger tasks. I laughed again and launched a powerful bolt to the ground. It threw a huge piece of land into the sky and sent it into the sea. I didn’t care if that attracted my superiors’ attention. Surely if they tried to stop, they would end up similar. I hopped down into the hole and found myself breath taken.
Chapter Two:
“Elated”
The power had already gone to my head. I arrogantly allowed myself to fall down the deep hole, landing me hard on my back. I got up and brushed myself off, making a disapproving noise. I looked around and gasped. I was inside of a sort of chamber. I looked in front of me and saw a gigantic crystal, filled with the same energies as the ones we have established throughout the small lands that we do control. I became disheartened. They would definitely know if I began draining one of our energy sources. I turned back around quickly. I wasn’t about to just leave. This was my crystal; it was underground anyhow. This was probably buried because there were too many. I reasoned with myself, desperately. I thought about it and started tapping into the vast and seemingly infinite energies contained within the crystal. At once, it stopped coming. All of the energy would not allow me at it.
“It’s been many a year since I have seen one of your kind, blood elf.” A demonic voice echoed throughout the underground chamber. I shrieked and backed up.
“Show yourself!” I shouted, looking around quickly.
“Ha! I’m right in front of you! Open your eyes, warlock. I can sense your fierce desire for power. You and I both have our problems, don’t we?”
“I’ve no idea what you are talking about!”
“Oh, yes, you do! It’s only a matter of why you are lying to yourself. I have been destroyed long ago. I was turned into this mass of energy and confined into the limits of this crystal.” It said. I had nothing to say; all of this was still quite a shock to me.
“And you…you have a burning desire for power. Yes…boundless amounts, it seems. Like others, you just aren’t willing to spend the time. Such a pity.”
“What’s it to you, demon?” I shot back. It made me mad, and a bit scared, to know he could see into my mind.
“I will tell you, blood elf. We have what each other need, do we not? You need my great power. I need a way out of here. So, what do you say we help each other out?” It offered. I thought about this proposition. To have all of the power I wanted, but I would have freed a demonic presence my people had sealed away long ago. No, it was not worth it. I had power right now. I would just use it and grow upon it. I didn’t need that much. I could acquire it on my own.
“No! I will not make a deal with you, demon. I can proceed on my own. Letting a demon out of a crystal is foolish.” I said, turning around and getting ready to begin climbing out.
“You know…your Prince…oh, what’s his name, Kael’Thas Sunstrider…” It said to me.
I spun around at once and looked at the crystal wildly. “What about him?”
“Oh ho, that seemed to have struck an interest…”
“I asked you what you knew of him! Speak now!”
“Straight to the point…I like that. Very well…there’s no telling how much longer he’ll last in those scary Outlands. His guard has been defeated. Can he really afford to wait that long for you, his gracious savior?”
“You lie, demon!” I screamed at the crystal. He was lying to get around me; I grinned as I realized that I was on to him.
“Do I? Are you willing to wait to find out? That clock is ticking.” It laughed. The laughter filled the room, shaking me up. I was deadest against it, but I didn’t have a choice. To live with the fact that my prince had died and that I could have prevented it was too much.
“Very well then,” I spat, “let us ‘help each other’ as you put it.”
“I knew you were not without reason. Help yourself, blood elf!” It said. The voice vanished, and I heard nothing more. I began a tap on it, but instead of the usual slow and invisible transfer, a huge, purple, magic beam connected the crystal to my hands that I held in front of me. I could feel the magical energies simply residing in me. The beam stopped after only five minutes. The crystal was now dull and lifeless. I felt extremely powerful and confident.
How does it feel, blood elf? Do you realize that you are the most powerful of your kind? The demonic voice asked, only now, it was inside of my head. Since I was so powerful, I was no longer scared of the demon.
“I feel…” I said, when I stopped. I was about to answer excellent, but my vision was clouding. I started swaying on my feet. What was happening?
“You…you killed me!” I cried, thinking he had only done this to kill me and free the demon.
Kill? Oh, dear me, no! I’m just making sure you have a clear head when it comes to decision making. There we go.
“What are you doing to me?” I asked it. I was close to tears; I was extraordinarily powerful, but I could do nothing against the demon.
Let’s call it spring cleaning, except without the spring of course. You have a few things in that precious mind of yours that are extremely unnecessary. I’m doing you a favor! When you wake up, you’ll thank me, but I won’t be here. I’ve…outlived my usefulness. My, never thought I’d be saying that to myself. But, now then, I’ve said too much! Good night, blood elf, and enjoy what’s to come! It said, laughing. It echoed briefly in my head, and I heard no more. I fell asleep like it said I would, my mind full of thoughts of what he meant.
Chapter Three:
“What He Meant”
I woke up to yelling and screaming; I winced as it started getting annoying. What was going on? Had the demon escaped and rampaged? I rolled over to my right, which was accompanied by much more yelling, mostly to the effect of, “Run!” That only sparked more of my interest. What was going on? Despite my want to lay down more, I opened my eyes. There was an entire battalion of guardians, straight from Silvermoon City. In the front was the first woman I had ever spoken to in my travels, Magistrix Erona. But…they were so small. I squinted at them, still lying down. Was I drunk? Was this a dream? I couldn’t explain it. I looked quickly at them and sat up. The movement frightened the guards causing them to ready their weapons. The Magistrix frowned and motioned them to peace. She said something but I couldn’t hear her. I laid my head on the ground again, accomplishing the want to sleep and the want to hear her.
“I said ‘how are you feeling, sin’dorei?’” Magistrix Erona said to me. The forces from Silvermoon looked at each other.
“Fine, thanks.” I said, truthfully. They backed away and covered their ears.
“Oh, sorry!” I said, quietly.
“Yes, I’m sure. Could you explain what exactly is going on?” She asked me. I looked over myself and woke up fully. I was huge. I could never have imagined the crystal would have given me power in this way. I came close to saying what had really happened, but I couldn’t do that. Telling them I had released a demon that was sealed away for power sounded selfish and evil. Thinking quick, I was able to come up with a way to dodge her question.
“I...was hoping you could tell me.” I said, smiling.
“Yes, well…I’m afraid I can’t…nor can anyone really.”
“Oh, that’s okay.”
“I’m not sure it is. I don’t know what we could do with you. We’d have to hold you until tests could be completed, and this could be reversed.”
“That won’t be necessary. I enjoy this. I’m sure I could find some usefulness like this, wouldn’t you agree?” I said, pleasantly. Something inside my head told me, as I looked down at the little soldiers, to wipe them out or, at the very least, to cause them discomfort. They were among my own people. I couldn’t do that. I struggled to keep that feeling down as I continued talking to the Magistrix.
“I do suppose so. Just be sure to, ah, watch your step.”
“Don’t worry, Magistrix, I will have full awareness over each and every one I take.” I said, getting up. I stood up, and it was not until then that I realized how tall I actually was. Making out the Magistrix and the Silvermoon soldiers was no longer an easy task. The tower in which I had received my first training came to just below my knees. The world was a great deal more interesting from this point. I walked away from the Magistrix when the feeling resurfaced.
I wanted to make it go away, so I thought about how to quench it. There was a way. That way included Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves, Night Elves, and Draenei. I smirked before setting off towards Silvermoon City.
Chapter Four:
“Primary Offense”
“Regent-Lord, please understand that you have to do something about the price of mining supplies, he says! As if I control it! Gah, I swear this position will be the end of me.” I said, sharing the rare laugh with my two closest advisors, the Grand Magister Rommath and the Ranger-General Halduron Brightwing. Being the highest ranking official wasn’t always the best thing. It has been quite a while since I have had to deal with anything of importance. Most of the work here was just from the finishing of construction and common complaints.
A group of guards entered quickly from outside. They waited there, meaning there was need for me.
“Yes? What is it?” I asked.
“Regent-Lord, there is a certain blood elf here to see you. She requests you come out to the Bazaar.” An elf who looked like the elected group speaker said, hanging his head.
“Are you mad? You should know better than to let someone think I just make trips for anyone.”
“Uh, you see, my lord, she’s not exactly ‘someone’. Forgive me for speaking as such, but I think it would be most advisable for you to go out and see what she wants.”
I looked at him. “Who is it?”
“She did not give a name, my lord.” He said. I stood up straighter and looked at my advisors.
“Regent-Lord, I will accompany you. Halduron, stay here and address the public.” Rommath said.
“Of course.” Halduron said.
“Lead the way, soldier.” I said, nodding the group on. He nodded and started walking towards the Bazaar. I was about to start chatting with Rommath on my left when his eyes widened.
“My…lord…look…” He said, slowly. He pointed to my right to which I looked. I could hardly believe what I saw. There was a female blood elf. She had blond hair which came to her shoulder. She was no different than any other blood elf except for one difference. She towered above Silvermoon City. Words failed me as I tried to describe her. I put her at sixty-six yards at the very least. I broke rank with the guards. I sprinted through the crowds of people who watched her with awe. Rommath tailed me but had no objections. The guards had also sped up to try and keep up with me. I slid to a halt in front of her. She was colossal and looked even more so up close. Rommath and the guards had caught up with me, so I became to try and regain my calm.
“You requesting a meeting, miss...”
“Aelyni, thanks.” She replied, completely calm. Aelyni acted as if there was nothing going on, and this was mere idle chat.
“Aelyni, yes…you had a matter that you wanted to discuss with me.”
“Oh, yes, I do! As you can see, I am the most powerful of our entire race!” She said, confidently. I was about to disagree, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t matter. She could be right, after all.
“I want to bring us glory and defeat our enemies! So, I have come before you, Regent-Lord, to ask of your permission to defeat the Alliance!” She requested. That was the top of it all. This situation in front of me was a big enough problem. And now she wanted my permission to destroy the Alliance? It was too much to digest.
Rommath must have known I was skeptical about this, so he pulled me off to the side and said, “Just a moment, Aelyni, please.”
She smiled and nodded. “Regent-Lord, as your advisor, I must say that this is a fortunate turn of events. We have only recently been accepted into the Horde’s forces. You must agree that the reception was lukewarm at best. This is our chance for advancement.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“I’m saying let her do her thing with the Alliance. There’s no doubt that she’ll do something. Perhaps not destroy, but certainly damage. Meanwhile, we holding a meeting with the Horde’s leadership, tell them we are responsible for her, and that she is doing this. They think it’s us, and, for lack of a better phrase, will be eating out of our palms.” I saw what he meant. It was good.
“Besides, I’d hate to see what she would do if we were to refuse her.”
“Very well, I’ve made up my mind.” I said. We returned to Aelyni and looked up at her.
“Aelyni, as Regent-Lord of the Blood Elves, I hereby grant your request.”
“Great! No, perfect! I’ll be back soon!” Aelyni exclaimed and jumped out of the city and began running away.
“Just like that?” I asked myself.
“It’s better. Nothing more to say, my lord.” Rommath said. Citizens began looking at me for direction.
“Ah…nothing more to see here! Resume normal activities.” I said, waving my hand.
They looked at me oddly but complied, going off into their normal jobs. We walked back to Sunfury Spire, wondering just what we had unleashed upon the Alliance fools.
Chapter Five:
“Bane of the Alliance”
I continued my swim towards Teldrassil. There was no doubt in my mind that I would succeed. Something was there assuring my confidence. I had seen many monsters, most of which would have likely killed me. However, with my new found power, they barely caught my attention. I smiled as I thought about this.
I looked to my left and spotted a small ship that was heading towards Teldrassil. I paused and waded as I watched the vessel pass by me. There were maybe five people on board the boat that I was able to see on the deck. I couldn’t wait for the Alliance to see me now. They thought of our people as disposable and now I was going to demonstrate how very wrong they were. I swam just a bit quicker than before and caught up to the boat with ease. I put my hand beneath the ship and lifted it out of the water. I treaded water while I looked at the occupants. It turns out that only three people were on board, all of which being human.
“Hello, humans.” I said, looking at them. They had nothing to say, so they continued to back up.
“Come now, it’s not often our two races have a chance to chat, is it? I’m sure you at least have something to say.”
“How is it that you are able to speak our tongue, blood elf?” One asked me, with his weapon readied. I had forgotten the language barrier. How exactly was I able to communicate with him? Perhaps the demon had done more than what I thought.
“That is not an issue. Just know that I can. Tell me, are you heading off to Darnassus?”
They nodded, but kept their silence.
“Would you like me to quicken your journey?” I asked, grinning.
“No, you wouldn’t dare!” He said, shaken. I nodded and my smile broadened.
“Attack, brothers! Stop this Horde brute where she stands!” He yelled. They charged the finger I had on deck and all swung with their weapons. Instead of hurting, they shattered and left the humans with nothing more than the handles of what were once powerful items.
“No? Fine, we can go about this another way.” I said. I raised my right hand over the ship and thought about destroying them. A circle, similar to the ones that appeared whenever us warlocks summoned minions, formed around the ship and multiple shadow bolts appeared, striking them down after only one. Then, a huge purple beam appeared and seemingly sucked their souls out. I only saw two of the white essences, which I assumed to be their souls, leave the bodies, but I was confident they were dead. I felt them enter through my hand and course through the rest of my gigantic body. There was a brief surge of energy, but it was short and weak.
All I knew now was that the more I killed, the stronger I could become. I tossed the boat aside and resumed my trip towards Teldrassil.
Chapter Six:
“Rush”
“What is the meaning of this interruption?” The High Priestess asked me, looking up from a group of papers. She was normally friendlier, but a recent influx of work has really weighed her down. I couldn’t exactly say I envied her position as of now. The matter of which I disturbed her wasn’t any more reassuring. It wasn’t too often I was able to speak with a night elf, and on such a matter too. I was standing in front of her desk, dripping wet with the warm water from the Veiled Sea. The cause of which was the reason for my “interruption” as she put it.
“High Priestess, we have a…matter that needs to be discussed at once.” I said, trying my best to sound brave and bold.
“Would that be the matter of your...interesting state?” She asked me, raising her eyebrow as she examined my soaking wet armor.
“No, High Priestess, it would not. The matter of which I come to speak on is one of grave importance. In fact, I think it could compromise the entire security of your city, if not…destroy it.” I said to her.
Her expression remained the same. “What sort of joke is this?”
“Oh, this is no joke, High Priestess. We have little time for jokes. Rather, I’d like to impress this matter upon you. As we speak, there is a blood elf heading for Darnassus. She means to destroy the city.” I said. While I had no idea whether or not she would actually destroy the city, it was the most likely thing she would be doing.
“I see. It is quite uncommon to ever see members of the Horde trying to reach Darnassus; however, our sentinel force is expertly trained and prepared. I do not expect the blood elf to reach the city.” She said, examining her hand.
“This is no ordinary blood elf we are speaking of, High Priestess. This blood elf is a giant.”
She chuckled briefly. “That is enough, human. Take your leave.”
“High Priestess, I kid you not…”
“Human, I will not ask you again, remove yourself from my chambers, or I will have someone do it for you.”
I was about to ask her again, knowing the impending doom that was coming, but the sight of the advancing sentinels was enough to send me off. I walked over to the Warrior’s Terrace and had a seat on the bench. What was I to do? At this point, the only thing I could do was wait and hope my feelings were wrong. I watched the sentinels patrolling back and forth. I imagined the job was uneventful, but they seemed to let nothing out of their sight. I suddenly felt the ground shudder beneath my feel, so I looked up, dreading to see what awaited me. What was in front of me was not the blood elf, but the High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind. The rumbling was from an Ancient Guardian.
I jumped to my feet. “High Priestess…”
“Yes…excuse my impatience earlier, the work…” She began, looking down. It felt nice having someone of her importance apologizing to me.
“Yes, I understand; it’s fine.”
“Have a seat, and we can discuss this again.” She offered. She was just about to sit down when a voice boomed from overhead, “Ah, ah, ah! There’s no need to sit down now!” My eyes shot up somewhere around sixty yards before I was met with the face of the blood elf who had attacked our ship earlier.
“A sin’dorei! Only…so tall…” The High Priestess said, backing up.
“A kal’dorei…only…so small…” The blood elf said, sardonically. My first instinct was to defend her, but the only weapon I had was nothing more than a handle, thanks to the blood elf.
“Guards! Attack her!” The High Priestess ordered. A group of en route guards ran a bit faster and started attacking. Like my weapon, their weapons all shattered upon contact with the blood elf’s skin. The guards, alarmed, started backing away slowly. The blood elf smiled and held her hand out above them. Her eyes, instead of their normal green glow, took on a demonic purple. In a few seconds, a huge beam of purple energy shot from her palm and engulfed the guards. She maintained the beam for only a few seconds before stopping. Where there had been five sentinels, there was now nothing more than an incredibly deep hole.
“Sorry,” The blood elf laughed, “I get a bit carried away sometimes!”
The High Priestess and I had nothing to say to her, so she continued on.
“Let me get to the point. I am here on the behalf of my honorable race,” The blood elf explained, causing the High Priestess to wince at the word ‘honorable, “the blood elves. The destruction of your race has been affirmed to me by my leader. You may have had the advantage in the past, but no longer. Today, I will wipe you from history!”
“That will never happen, sin’dorei! The goddess Elune is with us! You can hardly expect to win!” The High Priestess yelled.
The blood elf laughed once more, picked the High Priestess up off of the ground, and dangled her before her gigantic face. “Can’t I? I suppose I’ll just take you along then. You can explain that to my leader!” At those words, the blood elf dropped the High Priestess inside the top of her robe. What was to become of her, I had no idea.
It was time to intervene, on my part. I had no weapon, but the power of the Light was on my side. “Stop! In the name of the Light! I shall vanquish you, demon!” I called to her. The blood elf stopped looking around Darnassus and cast a look in my direction. “Ah, you…did you enjoy your swim?”
I had the Seal of Righteousness on me, so I unleashed the immense energy contained within it on the blood elf, hoping for some kind of recoil. The holy energy, however, dissipated within a yard of touching a hair on her head. I had never seen it before. As it neared her, it had been engulfed by demonic flames and completely stopped. Was that possible? A force so strong that it could resist the Light?
“That’s a neat trick, paladin. Allow me to show you a few of mine next!” She said. She pointed her finger at me and a dark bolt of shadow energy started racing towards me. Not wanting to experience what it would feel like, I activated my Divine Protection. The bolt was stopped in its tracks and quickly dissolved. She laughed and wagged her finger at me. Again, her eyes took on a demonic glow of purple, and she pointed her finger at me again. This time, though, it was not a shadow bolt. Instead, a beam of blue energy shot straight at my holy shield. I had never seen anything like it. I didn’t think that anyone else did either.
My shield evaporated and the beam hit me. I was knocked a good five yards back and slammed into a tree. I could barely move and was in extreme pain. My armor plating had shattered, leaving me in my peasant’s clothes.
“Now, I’m sorry you had to see that. But I’m in a hurry, you see. If you do survive, let your leaders know that they are next! Bye!” She said, blowing me a kiss. What was usually a taunting action turned out to be a death wish. She walked away as a normal sized version of herself appeared in front of my eyes. It smiled and reached inside of my already broken body. It pulled something, with great pain on my part, out of my chest. It was a spherical object of pure, glowing white. The replica blood elf threw it up in the air and shot it with a bolt of shadow energy. It shattered in pieces in front of me. The blood elf vanished, and with it, my life.
Chapter Seven:
“About That…”
I looked from the Warchief Thrall to Cairne Bloodhoof to Sylvanas Windrunner to Vol’jin. Each of them wore the same expression, a mix between disbelief, humor, and anger.
“Regent-Lord,” Thrall said, looking among his peers, “you must understand that this is all…a little…odd.”
“To say the least.” Cairne interjected.
“I would not have summoned you all here today if it wasn’t absolutely true.” I said, looking around my peers.
“How exactly did you go about this process? I’m sure it would help the rest of our forces.” Sylvanas said.
I blinked and stared blankly at her. Then, I looked to my right to see Rommath with the same look. Neither one of us had anticipated this question, much less how to answer it.
“It…was a complicated process, yes. I-I hadn’t thought ahead to bring a copy of the formula. Very complex, yes. We’ll be sure to discuss that later, though.” Rommath improvised on my part. They looked at each other and then back to us.
“Very well. Now, how long has it been since she has departed?” Thrall asked.
“It’d be seven days in a few hours.” I answered, honestly.
“And you think she succeeded?” He continued. I opened my mouth before I could answer. I didn’t know if I really believe that she would do it, but I didn’t think that she would be defeated either. To say no sounded like I was abandoning my race, surely to be looked down upon by my fellow leaders.
“Ah, yes, of course.” I said, smiling with false confidence.
“Really?” Sylvanas asked, “You don’t sound convinced.”
“I do have confidence she will do it. Just a tad hard to digest at once, won’t you agree?”
“I suppose.” Vol’jin replied. Just then, a troll scout walked into the room, dazed and stumbling around crazily. Thrall jumped up and put him in a chair.
“This is the scout we sent out to evaluate your blood elf’s progress.” He explained.
This sparked my interest. I was very intent on finding out just how far Aelyni got.
“Warchief,” He said, “I can’t really give an account on just what happened. Ask…her yourself…I need a rest…” Thrall looked up at me. For what, I didn’t know, so I simply shrugged. We left the small, locked hut and proceeded outdoors to find Aelyni standing there, her robes ripped only at the bottom. Blood stains, however, ran up to the top, most of it being located around her sleeves. I dreaded to think of just what she did.
“It’s done! I did it, Regent-Lord!” She exclaimed, giving a small jump, which shook every structure around her and put us off balance.
“Did it?” I asked. I knew exactly what she meant, but I still couldn’t believe it.
“Yes! I destroyed the Alliance! Oh, and I know you’d want proof so here!” Aelyni said, smiling broadly. I did a double-take when she reached inside of the top of her robe. The leaders similarly looked back at me. I realized why. Did they think I told her to do that? They turned around, all with an eyebrow raised.
“Awkward…” Rommath whispered to me. I nodded in agreement. After fishing around for a bit, she pulled her fist out and set three figures on the ground in front of them. I couldn’t believe it. In front of me were Magni Bronzebeard, Gelbin Mekkatorque, and Tyrande Whisperwind. The six of us stared at the three disoriented leaders.
“So where’s the other two, lass?” Vol’jin asked.
“The Draenei leader I, um…accidentally stepped on, heh…” She said, as if she had made some sort of mistake.
“And the human leader?” I asked her.
“Um, hold on, I think I got them all…” She said, looking inside of her robe again. I didn’t want to think of anything else that she would be keeping in her chest, so I looked to Rommath who seemed to be contemplating something else.
“I guess he fell out?” She shrugged.
“Guards! Lock them up! We will deal with them later!” Thrall ordered. About fifteen orcs walked over, restrained them, and led them away.
“And did you plan this as well?” Cairne asked me. He was not impressed as I expected him to be.
“Actually, no…” I admitted. Saying yes would have made my position embarrassing and perverted to be certain.
“Were you thinking of this when you transformed her?” Sylvanas questioned me, looking from Aelyni to myself.
“Transformed? The Regent-Lord didn’t do this to me! He’s not to blame for this!” Aelyni protested, adamantly defending me. While I would have loved this any other time, her defense just opened me up more.
“Oh, didn’t he?” Thrall said, turning around with the rest of the leaders. All of the eyes were on me.
“Tell us, Theron, what exactly did you do?” Vol’jin asked slowly, walking towards me. I backed up. I couldn’t take back what I had said and admit my lie. They cornered Rommath and I against the wall of the hut. I couldn’t answer.
“Hey! You stay away from him!” Aelyni shouted at them. That was worse than being rounded on. My head was ringing and I generally felt like my brain would explode.
“Keep it down, blood elf! This does not involve you!” Thrall ordered. This was only successful in angering her. This worried me just as much as the leaders. I didn’t know how much restraint she had. Would she go hostile? I prayed not.
“Yes, it does! Step away from him or else I will get involved.” She threatened, narrowing her eyes.
“That’s an order from your leader!” He retorted, ending with a yell.
“My leader is the Regent-Lord; you have no right to order me!”
“Is this how you train your people? With no loyalty outside your order?” He asked me, angered. I shook my head fearfully.
“Enough!” She screamed. Aelyni stomped her foot on the ground, causing all of us to fall down. There was a crater with cracks running along the pavement where her foot was. This was not the Aelyni I knew. Her eyes seemed to be glowing with a purple glow, and it was all too obvious that she wasn’t happy. What was she exactly?
“I will not tolerate this any longer! You fools will learn not to question my rule! This is now my territory. All of you show your understanding, or I will ensure that you do not live to regret it!” She said, with a hint of a demonic tone. The leaders certainly were scared by this. The grunts that had rushed over to see what was going on were now kneeling by her, trembling with fear. For us leaders, we simply looked at her, wide-eyed. I couldn’t start to guess where this could lead, but it was a given that it would not lead anywhere favorable. What exactly had I started?
Chapter Eight:
“Subversive”
I had heard enough. I felt the rage flowing through every vein leading up my body. I glared down at the leaders. I then shifted my attention to the Regent-Lord. He was not the steadfast figure we had made him out to be. He cowered away from, not me, but the leaders. The thought he had been taking advantage of me for favor was too much. It was time to stop it all.
“That is right! Now you all know who is the leader here! Are there any objections?” I asked, heatedly. Just for effect and to reinforce the point, I summoned green flames which shot up out of the cracks my stomp had created. The leaders all stopped and were looking at me. A small smirk formed as I gazed down at them.
“Unless you’d like me to begin a tour through your cities, you will be handing over those capabilities to me.” I said, staring down at him.
“You truly believe that I would abandon my people? That I would back down as only a coward would?” Thrall questioned, offended.
“Of course, if you want your life and the lives of you followers. If you turn me down, it won’t matter. There won’t be enough alive to question your decision.” I laughed.
“Attack! The time is now to defend the Horde!” Thrall yelled, brandishing his axe. The grunts now attacked me too. I was surprised to see he hadn’t accepted my offer, but, in a way, still unsurprised. Without a second glance down at the grunts, I shot a volley of shadow bolts out of my left index fingers, killing them and taking their souls. I then used an aura of shadow magic to levitate Thrall in the air with my right hand. He stared at me with rage and anger.
“Drop me at once, blood elf. Are you scared to fight me?” He asked. I laughed at him. How could he possibly think that he stood a chance against my supreme power? I was about to drain the soul out of his still living body, but I had a better idea.
“As you command, Warchief.” I said, sarcastically. Having said this, I launched him out of Orgrimmar and out of my sight. I then turned my attention to the other leaders, stunned by this.
“Now, you will all suffer for the stupidity of your Warchief! All of you shall feel my wrath!” I shouted. I raised my hands and filled my mind with thoughts of destruction. Portals opened on the ground everywhere, allowing demons to come into the city. The sky went from a blue to a dark purple. I summoned energy to my fingertips, allowing me to fire shadow energy at the buildings of Orgrimmar. The city caught fire and citizens and leaders alike started to flee. I laughed evilly again as my new destructive hold on the world began. I could feel the energy colliding together with itself inside my body as more portals spilled out more demons faster than I could think them up.
Chapter Nine:
“A Raider’s Dream”
“I said more DPS on skull! All out! God damn it! Kill it already!” The raid leader screamed into his microphone over Ventrilo. We had spent weeks getting our entire party attuned for the Karazhan instance, and we were finally here. We killed skull with no problem and proceeded to the diamond marked target. Just then, the off-tank of our raid group said, “Priest got garrote.”
“Well then bubble him! Paladin! Use it!” He yelled, desperately. More time passed as we kept up our job of killing the targets.
“Paladin! Use your bubble! Anything! He’s going to die!” Again, nothing happened.
“The priest died! Jesus…all right, we can still do this! Paladins, heal through…”
“Paladins are dead man…” A man said, interrupting the leader. I just saw what he meant when our tanks died and Moroes rushed me, hitting me for a nice ten thousand damage and killing me instantly. Our party died soon thereafter. We all sat there dead until our raid leader spoke up.
“Paladin! Why didn’t you bubble the priest? Can’t you understand English?” He asked.
“Uh, paladin doesn’t speak English. He’s Vietnamese.”
The leader groaned. “All right, break time. We’ll finish this in a little bit. Piss, eat, drink, I don’t care. Just be back in a few minutes.” I shrugged as I took off my headset and proceeded downstairs. I couldn’t wait. I had a feeling that my guild would down him when we got back, but I’d have to wait and see. I grabbed a glass of water and headed back up to my room quickly. I was just about to sit down in my computer chair when I tripped over my headset. Saving myself from the fall, I released the water and grabbed onto the table. The water landed all over my monitor, dripping inside of it.
“Shit!” I yelled, getting up and looking inside of it. Electrical current was flowing from one capacitor to the next. They made a web of blue electrical energy, all linked together.
Hey, that’s pretty cool. I thought, looking at it. It came out and connected with my nose.
Chapter Ten:
“Face of the Horde”
I woke up, lying on warm dirt. Brushing myself off, I looked around me.
“What the hell? Is this really Orgrimmar? Damn…I must be dead…” I said, remembering the shock. I looked around the city. It was Orgrimmar, albeit a destroyed version under a demonic sky.
“Did the Alliance get it? Must have…stupid night elves.” I said to myself, still bitter over one that had killed me the night before in Stranglethorn Vale. I walked around.
“Oh my god, there’s the auction house. But where’s all the people?” I asked myself, “Wow, I can go see Thrall. No way is he dead. Even that forty man raid on Orgrimmar failed last night.” I sprinted to the Valley of Wisdom. I couldn’t believe all the destruction. Houses were burning, orcs were lying around dead everywhere…what had happened? Upon getting there, I was not greeted by Thrall’s chamber. No, instead, and to my disbelief, I saw a blood elf. Not just any blood elf, this one gigantic. She had her legs out which almost came to the entrance to the Valley of Wisdom. Currently, she was sitting on what would have been Thrall’s chamber and shooting purple arcs of energy into the distance.
“I’m sure she’ll know something. Maybe the Titans came back? Something weird is going on.” I reasoned. I ran around her leg and to her hip.
“Hey, you! Um, blood elf!” I screamed at her. She looked down at me with indifference. As she was, I just remembered. I was a human. Meaning, even though I played the Horde on the game, I was an Alliance here.
“I’m not an Alliance, blood elf! I play Horde on World of Warcraft! Which…you probably don’t know what it is. I’m really part of the Horde!”
“In case you haven’t noticed, there is no Horde.” She replied, with a chuckle.
“No Horde? What about you then?” I asked her. Blood elves were part of the Horde. Why wouldn’t she be part of the Horde? Unless…she caused this… I thought, scared.
“I’m my own faction. I guess that means that you and I are hostiles, human.” The blood elf said, with slight excitement coming across her otherwise bored face. I wasn’t about to try and attack her.
“No! It doesn’t have to be that way! I didn’t come all the way from Earth to die to a member of my own faction! Can I join your faction or something?” I asked her quickly.
“I’m all the faction that my faction can handle.”
“Can we be allies then? I really don’t want to have to fight you…”
“I can see why.” She laughed.
“So how about allies then?”
“Not interested.”
“We can be non-aggressive, c-can’t we?” I asked. Her stare was becoming more and more aggressive the longer we talked.
“You can be, but don’t hold your breath over me.”
“Please, no!” I said, backing up. She pointed her finger at me. At once, I was encaged inside of a purple energy bubble.
“Wait there until I find a…fitting use for you.” She said, going back to shooting the arcs of energy. I tried pressing against the walls with all of my might; however, all I received was a zap. I sat down on the ground, and, with nothing better to do, watched the blood elf as she continued firing the arcs of energy.
Chapter Eleven:
“Gone Wrong”
I woke up, gasping for breath under the red sky. The town was burning down. Orgrimmar, flagship city of the Horde, was burning down. My head was lying on what appeared to me to be the corpse of Rommath. I, despite my hardened nature and position, cried over his corpse.
“Rommath, my friend, how did this go so wrong? We came here with the promise of being revered as gods in the Horde! Look at us now!” I sobbed over him. So…what do I do now? Who could possibly aid us in this time? Unless…yes, he must be notified! I thought to myself. I looked into the sky.
“How do I account for my failure?” I asked myself, thinking of my failure.
“Prince, I have come to warn you that you are in dire threat of being wiped out. One of our own has reached astounding heights and has destroyed the entirety of the Horde, our faction. She doesn’t really care about anything and is only concerned with killing for more power. She’s considering coming to find you. Essentially, what I’m saying is that I’ve failed. All of your people that trusted me for leadership have been failed. Your army is no more.” I said, sighing. He must be alerted somehow. But I can’t let him know that I’ve let the people die and saved myself! Wait, perhaps there is a way! Again, my thoughts kicked in another crazy idea. I looked around for Aelyni, who I was quick to locate, thanks to her enormous height.
I couldn’t quite believe exactly what I was doing. She had come a hair away from killing me a couple of days back, and now I was coming right back to her, with the intention of reasoning. I slid to a halt, seeing her idly firing some sort of magic into the distance. I could only guess as to what her target was, if she had a target. I took a deep breath and approached her with my chest out.
“Aelyni!” I called, doing the best I could to sound brave. The truth of the matter was that I wasn’t. If anyone was brave here, it was her. She slowly looked down to me. Something seemed to flicker through her eyes as she fixed me with a cold look.
“And what exactly would you want?” Aelyni asked. Whatever was bothering her, it must have been bad. I should have scolded her by not using my title, but, given the circumstances, that probably wasn’t of concern.
“I wanted to entrust you with an important mission. It is of dire importance.” I announced to her.
She snorted. “I have no need to run errands for you. In fact, you should know that it is taking quite a bit of willpower on my part to stop me from crushing you under my foot like the disgusting insect you are. You have clearly demonstrated that you are an incompetent fool who is interested in nothing more than politics! You have failed our people, but more importantly failed me. You then proceeded to use me as some kind of instrument for your political agenda. You have failed. I, however, will not fail.”
My mouth dropped open, and I was left staring at her face like an idiot. I couldn’t believe that she had actually said that to me. What was worse was that it was true. Every word of it. If a citizen of my own race could say that to me, I couldn’t bring myself to imagine the punishment of the prince.
“I can stare idly at you too! And it won’t do either of us any good! I’ve run out of patience with you! You can either stand there and let me crush you where you stand, or you can join my Alliance friend inside of the cage.” Aelyni said, starting with a shout but then quieting down into an almost evil whisper. The captured human shouted something, but it was muffled and incoherent. The view of Aelyni advancing quickly tore my attention away from him though.
“No…n-no! You wouldn’t dare!” I yelled, backing away from her.
“Are you calling me a liar? Is that it?” She shouted at me, standing up. Her foot was bigger than my entire being.
I shook my head desperately, at a loss for words.
“Then what? What?” She screamed even louder, slamming her foot only inches from me. My head was ringing with pain, not to mention that the force of her foot was enough to knock me to the ground. I stared up at her face. I had made one too many mistakes. The insanely calm part of me said that it was my just reward, and it was what I got. Still, I backed away, only on all fours. Had I been reduced to this?
“That is correct, Regent-Lord. Crawl away from me. Crawl away from my unchallengeable power. From my rule! Crawl away on the ground like the bug you are! But, at the same time, realize that you will be destroyed like the bug you are!” She said. Aelyni lifted her foot into the sky and positioned it over me. Her body was blocking the red glow from the tainted sky. A relatively dark shade fell around me. A single tear dropped down from my face and onto my neck. The calm took control of my mind.
“So…that’s what I get…” I said quietly to myself. Her foot came down, and, in a matter of mere seconds, every fault rushed to my brain.
Chapter Twelve:
“The Quest for Power Continues”
I kept my foot where it was, rubbing it into the ground. I could still feel the anger pumping through me. When I lifted it, I was happy to see the blood dripping from my boot. The Regent-Lord’s corpse lay, mangled and ripped apart. Remotely appalled, I kicked a little bit of dirt over it and nodded to myself. I looked across the vast terrain and thought to myself, I wonder where I could find more people…The power to do whatever I wanted was within me. I had slain many strongholds. Many of these being among those rumored to be impenetrable. Azeroth was mine. Was that it? Was I just to stay in this form forever? Nothing to use this incredible power on?
“I didn’t come all the way from Earth to die to a member of my own faction!” A voice echoed throughout my head. My sights then fell to the human, looking up at me from his cage, scared. I loved this. I waved my hand over his cage, releasing him. He looked around desperately. Then, as I had expected, he ran away from me.
“Oh, no you don’t. Come on back here; we’ve business to discuss.” I chuckled, pointing my finger at him. He was engulfed by a demonic energy which allowed me to levitate him just by thought. I sat down and had him in front of my face, only because I knew that it would likely make him as uncomfortable as possible.
I thought of a good way to start our conversation when I thought back to the way I started my journey, with that voice that posed that question to me.
“You and I both have our problems, don’t we?” I asked him, refraining from laughter.
“Uh…yeah, I-I guess…” He said, not understanding what I meant.
“There’s no one left, human. You and I are all that’s left. Do you understand that?”
“N-Nobody?” He gasped. I laughed and nodded.
“All of them, they’re all dead. Inside of me, down to the core, I have their essences. They empower me. But you can’t just quit there, now can you?”
“Quit there?”
“Look at me; I’m huge, powerful, and beautiful. If there’s anyone left out there, they’d bow to me in a second. I have become everything I hoped I could become. But I see no reason to stop.”
“So…y-you want more people, is that it?”
“Very good; I’m surprised you caught on that quick. Yes, I want more of this energy. To be honest, I’d be happy if I could just keep getting more until I explode.”
He was shocked to hear me say that.
“Don’t get your hopes up, human. I can contain it all. I am at a loss though. I have expended Azeroth’s resources. However, I remember you telling me of something called “Earth”. Do expand.”
He looked at me, confused. “You…you want to…”
“I want you to tell me about Earth right now. More specifically, I want you to tell me about how you came here from Earth.”
“I spilled some water on my computer monitor and then I woke up here.”
“Computer?” I asked. I hadn’t ever heard that term before.
“Uh, yeah…you probably don’t know what those are. I probably don’t have time to explain. But this electric bolt thing zapped me and I was laying on the ground.”
“What about the portal? Surely you must have used some sort of magic to come here in coordination with this electric shock.”
“I don’t know any magic.”
“Don’t lie to me.” I threatened.
“I’m not! Nobody knows magic where I come from.” He said, waving his hands. I smiled.
“You’ve been a great help. I think that deserves a kiss.” I said, affectionately. Again, he was surprised. Oh, it’s not the kiss you are expecting. I thought, deviously. I allowed the energy to drop him into my hand. After that, I moved it closer to my face. I closed my eyes and kissed the spot where he was in my hand. With my height, it covered his entire body. He looked at me, stunned. That look would be frozen on his face forever. His soul came out through his mouth and entered into mine where it distributed itself inside of me.
For the next five hours, I searched all of Orgrimmar, looking for the way he got to Azeroth. All of it came up negative. I could find nothing.
“He lied to me!” I shouted to no one. In my rage, I slammed a foot into the ground again. It created a deep crack that continued deepening. I jumped out of the way. After the rumbling stopped, I couldn’t see to the bottom of it. I thought of the planet when a crazy idea popped into my mind.
“What if I could…tap the entire planet…” I said to myself, quietly. Unsure, I tilted my head and shot a purple energy drain down into the crack. I felt nothing at all. I was about to give up when a jolt of energy began coming in.
I gasped as the power rushed to me. “Yes, this…t-this is what I want!” I put all of my effort into sucking this planet dry. Energy continuously flew to me in great amounts. I felt myself getting stronger, but not any taller. My growth spree had ended it seemed. It was enough to get by.
For an hour I continued this, exhilarated by the power. The source became jerky quickly. I stopped and backed off. The very ground beneath me shook and rumbled. Pieces of Azeroth began falling apart.
“The planet is collapsing!” I said. Using my energy as a rocket, so to speak, I flew myself off of Azeroth and watched it from the sky. Just two minutes later, it fell apart. It was a beautiful sight to behold. This was all my doing. I was really this powerful! I then cast my sights at Outland.
“Prince…we’ll see if you’re any more of a man than the Regent-Lord was…hmm…what’s this?” I asked myself. Azeroth had completely fell apart and now was nothing more than floating pieces of land. In the center of it was a small glowing object. A round sort of thing. A portal.
“Wonder where this leads…” I said, as I extended my index finger to touch it.
Epilogue:
“A New Source:
I paused and turned around slowly, looking back a man who seemed to be drunk, but was wandering the sidewalk midday. I shook my head and continued on my mail route. The sun was shining today, kids were playing, and people were in a good mood. Paradise found. Again, I paused as I opened my mail sash for a house that was next on my list.
This house was the one where the child disappeared. Police say he wasn’t kidnapped nor killed so they assume he ran away. He had it made in there. It didn’t all make sense. Every time I visited, I was sure to wish them the best of luck. Their mail was the usual bills. Nothing special. I approached the mailbox, but accidentally dropped the mail on the ground. Grumbling, I bent over to pick it up when I heard an extremely loud crashing noise, almost right next to me.
“What the hell?” I asked myself, looking up. Where there was once a house, now there was some kind of giant elf thing. She was striking, to say the least. Her eyes were closed, as if she was waiting for a present or something. Scared out of my mind, I froze, not daring to move. Her eyes opened, and she looked around her with mild interest. A distinct smirk formed at the corner of her mouth. From the moment, she had opened her eyes, I swore that the sky became darker. She looked down and spotted me.
I waved, hoping to get her to let me be. Her smirk broadened into a smile. She lifted her foot off of the ground and positioned it over top of me. The sky took on a sort of demonic purple above her. Everywhere else, it was blue. Lighting struck around her. Who was she? I had inquired into my brain too much. And the elf’s foot came down to silence my thoughts forever.
END