Side Note

For what it's worth, the preceding Condensed History of Azeroth is meant to be an appendix to my story. You don't have to read it to understand the story, but it certainly helps. If you want the full story, there's a link on the right sidebar you can click. Enjoy!

History of Azeroth, Part III

It would not be long before the freedom of Azeroth, the whole world, would be threatened by the Burning Legion again. Before the First War, after Ner'Zhul defied the Legion, he tried to escape and hide from his former masters. They found him and forced him into servitude once again. The orcs had failed the Legion in conquering Azeroth, so a new plan was formed. Ner'Zhul's soul was reborn as a new, powerful entity called the Lich King, and he would orchestrate the Legion's next attack upon the denizens of Azeroth. The plan was to form and unleash a plague upon the world, which woulf first kill all infected people, then raise them up as undead soldiers and pawns of the Legion. Ner'Zhul set up shop in the icy northern continent of Northrend, from whence he tested and tried his plague, finding it to work perfectly. He also learned he had a great ability to reach out and touch distant minds with his own, something he would later use to his own ends.

At this time, the orcs, imprisoned by the Alliance, grew lethargic and apathetic- they had seemingly lost their warrior spirit. Though some blamed disease, one mage, Antonidas, learned of the orcs' subjugation to demons and came to believe that their lethargy was caused by their growing seperation from their demon masters. The cure could not be a physical or medicinal one- it had to be spiritual.

Thrall, Warchief of the Horde -from wowwiki.com

Aedalas Blackmoore ruled over an internment camp on the foothills of Hillsbrad, and one particular orc held his interest: Thrall, an orphan whom Blackmoore had found during the First War and raised to be his slave. Blackmoore trained Thrall to be a warrior, and hoped to use him as a weapon. But Thrall had no intention of remaining a slave forever- he began to learn of the Horde he never knew, and heard rumors that the Warchief, Doomhammer, was alive and free. Thrall escaped and sought out the Horde's last unconquered chief, Grom Hellscream. Hellscream had kept the orcs' fighting spirit and tried in vain to rouse his kin. He did, however, inspire the warrior spirit inside Thrall, who sought to reclaim his people's honor.

Thrall became a student of the shaman DrekThar, who trained the young warrior in the shamanistic tradition. Using the power of the elements, Thrall set out to free his captive brethren and restore the Horde to its former glory. Beginning with the very internement camp where he had been a slave, Thrall began his campaign. Doomhammer fell in the battle, and Thrall took up the mantle of Warchief. Together with Hellscream, they attacked the Alliance camps and freed the orcs and ogres and trolls, building up again what had been destroyed.

This was only one of the Alliance's concerns, though- bickering and quarreling over political influence and territorial rights led several of the human nations to strike out on their own. Stormwind was rebuilt, and the higher taxes that resulted from the construction effort soured the minds of a few of the Alliance leaders. Even the elves, with whom the humans had fought so closely, left the Alliance. All that remained of the once mighty Alliance were the two nations of Lordaeron and Azeroth, and the wizard faction of the Kirin Tor, who called the city of Dalaran home. They were bolstered by the undying allegiance of the dwarves, who swore to aid the humans in honor of the humans' help in reclaiming the dwarven lands from the Horde.

The Lich King in Northrend -from wowwiki.com

Little did the Alliance know the trouble that was brewing in their very homelands- the Lich King had begun to put his plan into motion. He seduced the mind of a promising Kirin Tor wizard named Kel'Thuzad, whom he used to create a group called the Cult of the Damned. The Lich King used these minions to secretly cultivate the plague that would ravage the land. The plague was unleashed on Lordaeron first by being distributed in grain and foodstuffs, keeping the general populace unaware of the danger. Those who became contaminated died and rose again as minions of the Lich King. These growing armies of undead zombies would come to be known as the Scourge.

The armies of Lordaeron, led by the mighty paladin Uther Lightbringer and his protege Arthas (who was the son of King Terenas of Lordaeron himself) sought to stem the growing tide of undeath, but met little success- the Scourge was growing too fast. Though it was a quickly losing battle, Arthas became obsessed with saving his kingdom, even resorting to extreme methods to do so. Arthas' growing desperation seperated him from his sense and humanity, until he began to lose his very soul. He tracked the Scourge to Northrend, where he fell prey to the Lich King's enourmoous power. He became the greatest of the Lich King's death knights, and returned home to Lordaeron. His mind gone and his soul in pieces, he led the Scourge against his own people, even murdering his father upon the throne.



The Lich King guided Arthas and the Scourge to Quel'Thalas, which he destroyed easily, all but wiping out the high elves which had dwelled there for thousands of years. Arthas then moved south to Dalaran, where he used the magical city to call one of the Legion's greatest lieutenants, Archimonde, into Azeroth. Archimonde destroyed Dalaran in one swift stroke, then prepared to make his next move: destroy the world tree, Nordrassil, on the continent of Kalimdor.

In his way, however, stood an odd alliance. Under the guidance of the young sorceress Jaina Proudmoore, the remnants of the once-proud nation of Lordaeron had fled to Kalimdor. There they had encountered the reinvigorated Horde under the leadership of Thrall. The two had fought at first, but then encountered a mysterious prophet who warned them that if they did not work together, the Legion would destroy their whole world. This prophet was, in fact, Medivh- the same mage who had helped to summon the Horde to Azeroth before the First War. Forming a tentative alliance, the orcs and humans joined the night elves of Kalimdor in defending the world tree from the Legion. They battled the Scourge long enough for Malfurion, leader of the night elves, to summon the collective strength and power of nature. Archimonde reached the World Tree, but as he prepared to destroy it, Nordrassil's primal fury was unleashed, completely destroying the mighty demon and freeing the world from the Legion's tyranny.



In the aftermath of this, the Third War, new nations arose in power. The Alliance between the humans and Horde fell apart. The Horde colonized eastern Kalimdor and made it their home, with the great city of Orgrimmar at its center. For their allies they had the trolls who had stood by them for so many years, as well as the mighty Tauren, a race of bull-like warriors whom Thrall had aided against invading centaurs. The Horde gained two unexpected allies as well. First, the high elves of Quel'Thalas had started to regain their former strength. Desperate to save his people, the high elf ruler, Kael'Thas, began to search for ways to rekindle the magic his people had once thrived on. This they found in Illidan, Malfurion's brother released from imprisonment, who had begun his own crusade to become the most powerful being in the world. The Alliance saw the elves' joining to Illidan as betrayal, so the elves sought alliance with the Horde.

Sylvanas Windrunner, Queen of the Forsaken -from wowwiki.com

The Horde's other ally came in the form of the Undead remaning in the ruins of Lordaeron. Seeking to distance themselves from their former Legion masters, these undead, under the name Forsaken, sought to create their own identity and wipe out the mindless denizens of the Scourge. The Forsaken took over the ruins of Lordaeron and made the ruined capital city their main base of operations, naming it the Undercity. They, too, found alliance with the Horde useful in their goals, though to call the Forsaken and Horde friends is to be naive. The Horde uses the Forsaken in their fight against the Alliance, and the Forsaken uses the Horde in a similar way against the Scourge. Once their goals are met, it would not be a surprise to see the allies part ways.

The Alliance grew after the Third War as well. The night elves, eternally grateful to the humans and dwarves for defending thier home of Kalimdor, became their steadfast ally. This was exteremlely useful in fighting the Horde on Kalimdor, where human and dwarf armies were small at best. On this continent, the night elves held the greater burden of defense.
But they would not stand alone. Shortly after the Third War, a mysterious structure had fallen from the sky onto an island not far from the night elf home of Teldrassil, a tall tree not unlike the World Tree. This structure was actually a ship, designed for travel through space. On the ship were the draenei who escaped the orc slaughter on Draenor. Their ship, the Exodar, had crashed on Azeroth, and the draenei formed their home base from the wreckage. Finding the orcs also on Azeroth, the draenei found natural allies in the night elves and the Alliance.

Draenei Warrior -from wowwiki.com

So the world stands thus today: the Alliance (consisting of Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, Draenei, and the Gnomes of Gnomeregan who make their home with the dwarves) stand ready to defend their lands, while the Horde (made of the Orcs, Trolls, Blood Elves, Tauren, and Forsaken) prepares to reclaim its former glory. Dark menaces still threaten both factions from outside- whispers of a growing evil in Northrend brush ears far and wide, as well as other menaces closer to home...

History of Azeroth, Part II

Across the Maelstrom lay a group of continents that came to be known as the Eastern Kingdoms. These were inhabited in ancient times by tribes of primal trolls, who lived and controlled the jungles and forests. Some of the Highborne, exiled from Kalimdor, made their way to the northernmost continent and built a great civilization, which they called Quel'Thalas ("High Kingdom"). The trolls of those regions and the elves fought many battles, fierce enough that the elves called upon the relatively primitive human tribes in those lands for help. Together, they quelled the troll tribes and established dominance in the land.

Silvermoon City, capital of Quel'Thalas -from wowwiki.com

The humans eventually divided their continent, south of Quel'Thalas, into several nations, the mightiest of which was Lordaeron. The continent, therefore, was also called Lordaeron.

The continent immediately to the south of Lordaeron, across the deep and chasmal Thandol Span, was populated by the mighty dwarves, who carved their kingdoms out of the mountains of Dun Morogh. They called this continent Khaz Modan after Khaz'Goroth, the Titan who created Earthen from which the dwarves were descended.

The southernmost continent in the Eastern Kingdoms came to be called Azeroth by the humans who built up civilizations there. Here the kingdom of Stormwind rose up to dominate the land, holding lordship over every region save the thick and dark jungles of the Stranglethorn Vale at the bottom of the continent. Built into the mountains, the city of Stormwind became the kingdom's capital.

Stormwind City, capital of the continent of Azeroth

It is here, in this continent of Azeroth, that the Horde first appeared. Ten thousand years after the Burning Legion laid waste to Kalimdor, a portal opened in eastern Azeroth, in a region called the Black Morass. Thousands of orcs and ogres flooded the kingdom of Stormwind, burning and razing everything in their path.

The Horde was, in fact, a product of the evil of the Burning Legion. The Horde's main race, the orcs, were once a race of peacable shamans living on a world called Draenor. The Burning Legion, intent on conquering the world's other inhabitants, the also-peaceful draenei, manipulated an orc shaman named Ner'Zhul into abandoning shamanism and taking up the dark arts of the warlock, such as necromancy. Many followed him, and the orcs began to wage war on the draenei.

Ner'Zhul -from wowwiki.com

Ner'Zhul realized the destruction to which his ways were leading the orcs, and began to defy the Legion. They turned to Ner'Zhul's best apprentice, Gul'Dan. To make the orcs stronger, Gul'Dan led his people to drink demonic blood, making them more powerful but forever binding them to the Legion. They joined with tribes of ogres and began to slaughter the draenei, uniting under a common banner as the Horde.

When the draenei had been driven from Draenor, the Horde had no more enemies and its warriors began to fight among themselves. Gul'Dan looked for a new target to prevent the Horde's self-annihilation. He found one on the world of Azeroth.

On Azeroth, a powerful wizard named Medivh had been corrupted by the spirit of Sargeras, the Titan creator of the Burning Legion. Medivh, through a supernatural mind link, contacted Gul'Dan and offered his world to the orc leader. Together, they opened a portal, and the armies of the Horde poured into the unsuspecting world of Azeroth, beginning what would become known as the First War.

Medivh -from wowwiki.com

The orcs swept easily through the continent of Azeroth, destroying everything in its path. They met strong resistance upon reaching the capital city of Stormwind, and came close to destruction, but several events seales their victory. First, at a key moment in the campaign, Alliance commander Anduin Lothar disappeared from the battlefield. In actuality, he had taken a small force secretly to Medivh's tower of Kharazan and destroyed the evil wizard. But his absence left the defense of Stormwind weakened. At the same time, the king of Stormwind was assassinated. further demoralizing the defenders. Lothar returned, hoping they had time to save their lands, but the damage was done. The orcs had conquered the continent of Azeroth, and Lothar and his people had no choice but to flee by sea northward to Lordaeron.

Not content to stop with Stormwind, the warchief of the Horde, Orgrim Doomhammer, recruited more ogres and trolls into the Horde and set his sights on Khaz Modan to the North. Meanwhile, Lothar had convinced the human kings of the north that the Horde was a threat to their entire world. So, together with the dwarves and gnomes of Khaz Modan, they formed the Alliance of Lordaeron to battle the Horde in what is now called the Second War.

At first, the Horde pushed far and fast into Alliance territory- victory seemed inevitable. But a feud arose between Doomhammer and Gul'Dan, the Horde's two most powerful leaders. Gul'Dan, obsessed with gaining power, left the Horde armies behind in search of the Tomb of Sargeras, which he believed held the secrets of immortality and godhood he so viciously craved. Nearly half the Horde forces followed Gul'Dan in his crusade, leaving Doomhammer with a severely diminished force. He sent troops to deal with the treacherous Gul'Dan and his armies, but that cost the Horde precious resources and allowed the Alliance time to regroup and rearm.

The Dark Portal -from wowwiki.com

Rallying the Alliance armies in light of the Horde's internal struggles, Lothar and his forces pushed the Horde all the way back to the lands of Stormwind. In an epic battle at the Horde's stronghold of Blackrock Spire, Lothar was killed, but the Horde faced its final defeat. They were pushed back to the Dark Portal. In a final offensive, the Alliance succeeded in destroying the portal, cutting off all hope of reinforcement from Draenor. At this, and because of continued infighting, the Horde collapsed and fell before the Alliance. The orcs, utterly defeated, were rounded up and placed in internment camps. Nethergarde Keep was built to watch over the ruins of the portal from Draenor, to ensure there would be no more invasions.

History of Azeroth, Part I

This is meant to be a helpful reference in explaining the history of the world of Azeroth before the immediate story takes place. It has been condensed from the history found on the World of Warcraft website. This is an abridgment meant to give you, the reader, the essentials. For the full version of the history, go here. (Note: All images are taken from wowwiki.com. Some are recognized by Blizzard as official, some are not. All credit for the images goes to the creators of said images, and I recieve no profit or gain whatsoever from them, except help in telling my story)

Azeroth as it appears today -taken from wowwiki.com

The world of Azeroth was discovered milennia ago by a race of god-like beings known as the Titans. Azeroth was disorganised, and the Titans sought to fashion and shape and order the world. Several races were empowered to help the Titans in their task. The dwarvish Earthen were formed from living stone and used to carve out the deep places of the world. The Titans created sea giants, massive and immense, to seperate the waters and raise land from the sea floor to form a single continent. A massive lake of powerful energies lay at the center of this great continent: the Well of Eternity. It became the fountain of life and growth for the world. As the ages passed, all manner of plants, animal life and creatures of every kind grew and flourished on the world. The Titans named their great continent Kalimdor: "land of eternal starlight".

Ten thousand years before the Horde first came and waged war against the inhabitants of Azeroth, a race of beings emerged from the primordial roots near the Well. Strengthened by the Well's energies, they became strong and essentially immortal. They called themselves the Kaldorei, meaning "children of the stars." They worshipped the moon and studied the Well with great curiosity. They developed a strong connection with nature and a powerful empathy for the living forests of Kalimdor.

Night Elves -from wowwiki.com

With time, the Kaldorei, or night elves as they would later be known, grew into a massive civilization. Their queen, a gifted and beautiful elf named Azhsara, ordered her favored servants, called the Quel'dorei ("Highborne") to find out everything they could about the Well of Eternity, its power and purpose. As the Highborne learned more, their power grew, and they eventually developed the ability to control the energies of the Well. They learned to use their new abilities to create or destroy at will. They had indeed stumbled upon primitive and arcane magic, both powerful and potentially unstable. They practiced their new magic recklessly, and began to be corrupted by it.


The arcane energies so carelessly used by the Highborne sent out ripples from the Well, ripples which were felt across the universe by beings great and terrible. The worst of these, Sargeras, was a fallen Titan who had become corrupted by the evil which he had fought against for so long. He had created an immense army of monsters and demons, and called it the Burning Legion. The Legion was hellbent on conquering everything in the Universe that lay in their path.



Sargeras' interest was drawn to Azeroth by the Highborne's magic, and he hungered for the powers and energy of the Well of Eternity. He gathered his Burning Legion together and made his way to Azeroth. Weakened by her misuse of magic, the night elf queen succumbed to Sargeras' power and granted him entrance to the world. She and her Hignborne opened a portal within the Well of Eternity to allow entry to the Legion. Countless demons and fel beasts stormed into Azeroth and laid seige to the night elves. Wherever the Legion went, only dust and ash and misery in its wake. The Kaldorei defended their home with courage and bravery, but slowly began to give way before the mighty Legion.

The Burning Legion -from wowwiki.com

A powerful druid named Malfurion Stormrage sought help for his beleaguered people. He looked for help from the powerful demigod Cenarius in the sacred moonglades of Mount Hyjal. Cenarius rallied a mighty army of dragons, spirits of the enchanted Kalimdor forests, and ancient tree-men and led them against the Legion in a daring ground assault. All-out battle broke out on the shores of the Well of Eternity. The revitalized elf armies fought the Legion with great veracity, but strength alone would not win the war. Malfurion, realizing this and also understanding that the Well of Eternity was the demons' link to Azeroth, became convinced that the well had to be destroyed. Sargeras himself was quickly aapproaching the portal, and if he made it through, all was lost. His allies were greatly concerned by his thoughts, since their immortality and power were linked to the Well. But they had to admit Malfurion's wisdom- they had to find a way to shut down the Well.

Illidan the Betrayer -from wowwiki.com

The Highborne found out of Malfurion's plan from his traitorous brother, Illidan, who knew that the Well's destruction meant that his addiction to magic would be severed. When Malfurion and his allies stormed the Highborne temple, they found the wicked elves in the middle of an incantation that would allow Sargeras to enter the world. The Highborne, thanks to Illidan's warning, were ready for the intruders. Nearly all of Malfurion's followers were killed from the outset. The druid's lover, Tyrande, fell to Azhsara's guards, seriously wounded but alive. Malfurion went into a rage and engaged Azhsara in mortal combat.

The fierce battle sent the portal into chaos, and the vortex exploded. The massive blast caused the very earth to quake and rend itself, and the raging Well of Eternity to collapse in on itself. The earth was shattered and the sky darkened. The mighty Azeroth seas rushed in and filled the gaping chasms left by the explosion. Kalimdor had lost almost four-fifths of its mass to the catastrophe; where once had been one great continent, now only a few smaller continents and a handful of islands remained. In the midst of them, where the Well of Eternity had once been, a great Malestrom of tidal fury and energy swirled and raged.

The Great Sundering -from wowwiki.com

Some of the Highborne survived, but were transformed into the hideous Naga, fould creatures of the deep. Others, along with the surviving night elves, made their way on the seas toward the nearest landmass, which turned out to be the western-most continent on the new face of Azeroth. This land they named Kalimdor, after their home of old.

Prologue

Six weeks ago

Keina breathed in slowly, and out slowly. Not a muscle in her body twitched, and she made no sound. Only her eyes moved as she watched the two beasts stalk toward her, sniffing the air, drool dripping from their fangs.
They looked around, slowly, cautiously. But they could not see nor smell Keina, hiding among bushes surrounding the tall Ashenvale trees. They drew closer to where she was, unaware of what lay ahead.
When the beasts were about 25 yards away, Keina whispered something, words that were immediately lost to the cool breeze that coursed through the Ashenvale forests. From one of the branches above the beasts, a large, white owl gracefully took flight and swooped downwards. It let out a loud hoot, which drew the attention of the beasts upward. One of them let out a quiet snarl- they were hungry, but the bird was several feet above their reach. They watched the owl, waiting for it to come lower.
There was a sharp thud, and a yelp. One of the beasts fell backward, a sharp arrow sticking out from its chest. The other looked around, and saw an elvish outline against the backdrop of the forest. It had barely registered what the outline was, and had just started to move, when another arrow pierced its skull, almost dead center between the eyes. The beast dropped to the forest floor with barely a sound.
The beast which fell first stirred, its heart still beating. It rolled over and began to get to its feet when Keina was upon it, stabbing her sword into the beast's back. It fell to the ground again; Keina pulled her sword out and waited, but the beast did not rise. With a death rattle from its mouth, it twitched and was still.
Keina retrieved her arrows, then immediately reached into a puch on her belt, scattering dirt over both beast's wounds to cover the smell of their blood. Then she dragged them into the treeline and hid them in the bushes, returning briefly to cover the spots where they died with the same dirt.
She whispered again, and the owl, her pet, flew ahead above the path, scouting for more beasts. They were curious creations, Keina mused, the work of some demon or wizard. They had the build and posture of men, but the fur and heads and teeth of wolves. Where they had come from, she didn't know, but that was precisely what Melyria had sent her to find out.

**********

Keina Mooncaller had come to Astranaar, a large village in Ashenvale forest, to see her long-time friend Raene Wolfrunner. The two had trained as huntresses together, had fought the corrupted furbolgs in the Ban'Ethil Barrow Den together. While Raene moved on to serve the Sentinel Army, the night elves' elite guard, Keina had remained behind in their home village of Dolanaar, crafting bows for warriors and adventurers. Raene's father, Tanavar, had fought against the demons of the Burning Legion. In one fierce battle, he was seriously wounded. The skill of Keina's father, an herbalist and alchemist, had saved Tanavar's life. The two became close friends and remaind so through the milennia since, as did their daughters.
Shortly after arriving in Astranaar, Raene told Keina of a Sentinel who had disappeared not long previously, named Velinde. She had been tasked with standing vigil in the northern region of Ashenvale against demons and agents of the Burning Legion. Her disappearence was a total mystery, but Raene had recently heard from Velinde's replacement, Melyria Frostshadow, that she may have found a lead. Keina offered to ride and speak with Melyria about it.
She came to Raynewood Retreat, where Velinde had been stationed. Melyria told Keina of a place near the northern borders with Felwood, where strange howls and cries pierced the night and haunted travelers along the nearby road. It was this area, Melyria had learned, where Velinde was last known to have been. She asked Keina if the huntress might be willing to take a look around and see if she could find any clues. Honorbound by her friendship with Raene, whose main responsibility was the safety of all Ashenvale Forest, Keina agreed.

**********

She moved along the gently rising path, silent as death. She had all her senses on high alert, listening, smelling, waiting for any sign of the wolf-beasts. Her owl, Mush'a, scouted ahead, returning every few minutes to let Keina know if anything waited further on.
Keina had trained Mush'a since the owl was a chick, and the two were inseperable. Keina's training had taught her how to communicate with her pet. They understood and communicated with each other as well as they would have if they were speaking Darnassian, the language of the night elves.
The path started to move up at a sharper angle. The forest was still quiet. Up ahead, Keina could just make out the shape of old pillars and columns, jutting up from the ground. Milennia ago, elven cities and structures dotted the land, but after the Sundering and ensuing wars with demons and other races, many had fallen into disrepair and now lay fallen, covered with moss and vines and age. She reached the ruins, still listening for any movement, but there was none to be detected.
Mush'a came flying out of the darkness ahead, and Keina detected some urgency in her movements. She ducked behind a pillar and listened. After a minute, she could hear the quiet stepping of feet on the mossy path ahead, moving toward her at a medium pace. She guessed that there were five beasts in the approaching group. Not exactly even odds. She decided to let them pass, though when weighed with the possibility they may turn around and return the way they came, possibly to encounter her again, it wasn't an easy decision.
She withdrew a distance to the moonlight-cast shadow of a tall column, put her bow and arrow away, and melted into the darkness. The goddess Elune had blesses her children, the night elves, with the ability to become invisible at night, even in full moonlight. It was upon this power that Keina now placed her safety.
After a couple of minutes, she could hear the beasts' heavy breathing, some of which were coupled with a soft kind of snarling sound. They entered her field of vision, on the main path, about twenty feet away. One of them stopped suddenly, sniffed the air, and turned in Keina's general direction. Keina did not move. Perhaps the beast had seen something, or, more likely, picked up her scent. Keina was a careful huntress, but even she made mistakes sometimes.
After a minute, the beast continued walking. Keina counted to thirty, then silently moved back toward the main path. She could barely hear the footsteps of the beasts, moving further away. She reached a column next to the path and peered around it. She could barely make out the distant forms of the wolf-beasts in the moonlight. There was something about them, though, that bothered her. Something wasn't right. It hit her an instant later.
There were only four of them. Where was the fifth?
As if cued by her mental question, she heard a snarl behind her. She wheeled to find the fifth beast, the same one that had stopped a minute ago, staring at her, drool dripping from its glistening fangs. Keina barely had time to register the beast's presence when it let out a howl. Loud and strong, it pierced the night's stillness. Thinking quickly, in one fluid motion, Keina pulled part of her war staff from off her back, the part with a narrow, sharp blade, and shoved it into the wolf's throat, choking the howl with a sick gurgling sound. With her other hand, she drew her sword and swiftly lopped off the beast's head. The body fell to the ground as Keina pulled her pointed staff free.
Replacing the staff and sword in their leather sheaths, she jumped out onto the path, pulling out bow and arrow as she did so. She could see the other four beasts running toward her, two of them running on all fours. They were about 40 yards away now. Keina let out a loud whistle and let fly her first arrow. The rushed shot hit the closest wolf-beast in the leg, sending it tumbling forward. She drew another and shot, this time hitting the next closest beast in the left shoulder. It faltered but kept running.
Above her, Mush'a soared high into the air. Then she suddenly pulled her wings in and dove with lightning speed. Her descent led her right to the second wolf, the arrow protruding from its shoulder. With great speed and size building up momentum, Mush'a claws outstretched, bowled into the beast, tearing out chunks of its flesh even as she knocked it over. The beast fell on its side and rolled over, struggling immediately to get up. Mush'a flew in a tight circle and swooped again, this time managing to get her claws into the beast's face before it could raise its paws in defense. Her razor-sharp talons scratched one eye into blindess, the other tore a long gash along the snout. Mush'a flew out of reach before the beast could react.
Meanwhile, Keina tossed her bow aside as the beasts closed to within 20 yards. She drew both halves of the staff this time, quickly locking the two pieces together to form one long staff. It was a gift from a gnome inventor to whom she had given a ceremonial elven bow for his mantle. It allowed Keina to carry the staff with ease, concealing it if necessary, but could be assembled quickly and easily for combat situations. Situations like this one.
She twirled her staff over her head as the two beasts drew closer. Only a few yards away, they leapt at her, claws outstretched. She crouched low and swung the staff downward to the left, catching one beast on the shoulder and slamming it to the ground. Her low stance allowed her to roll on the ground under the leap of the second beast. It overshot but quickly corrected itself on landing. It leapt at Keina again, but she jabbed the staff upward, catching the beast just under its head in the neck. She let the momentum of its leap carry it up and over her head, still impaled on her staff. She slammed this beast to the ground as well, drawing her sword with lightning swiftness and stabbing the beast in the back.
The other beast was getting back to its feet, but that wasn't Keina's only problem. The first beast, the one she had hit in the leg, was back on its feet, a broken arrow shaft still sticking out of its leg. They started circling around her, growling and snarling and gnashing their sharp teeth. The half-blind beast was staggering about, trying to get its bearings, but Mush'a kept flying at it from behind, clawing it with her talons and knocking it over.
The two remaining beasts closed the distance to the elven huntress with each circle. Keina looked at each one for a second only, not daring to turn her back on either one for longer than that. Staff in one hand and sword in the other, she quickly formulated a plan.
At Keina's whistle, Mush'a wheeled mid-air and flew toward her master. When she was close behind the unwounded beast, she screeched loud and shrill. The beast started and turned toward the sound, swinging its claws instinctively, but Mush'a was well out of reach. What she had done is buy Keina a few precious seconds.
The huntress quickly turned to the other beast and threw her sword. It twirled through the air and struck the beast dead center in the chest, cutting it wide open and knocking it back. Turning back to the other beast, Keina held her staff in front of her, the point still glistening with blood.
The beast growled at her, then charged. She meant to simply impale it as it came, but at the last second, it made a feint and sidestepped to the left. Keina's momentum carried her forward and off-balance, and the beast knocked her in the back with its massive paw. She fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. She rolled over on her back, even as the beast turned and leapt on her. Keina swung her staff up and caught the beast across the chest, knocking it to the side.
She let out a third whistle, this one short and shrill, then leapt upon the wolf-beast. With her staff, she stabbed through its right arm, pinning it to the ground. Keina grabbed the other arm with both hands, even as it swung at her head. With all her strength, she held it at bay, her weight and knee keeping the beast's body on the ground. Behind her, Mush'a swooped down, grasped the sword in the other beast's torso and pulled it out. The owl turned and flew back toward Keina.
Even as the bird dropped the sword to the ground near her master, Keina jabbed her elbow into the beast's neck, stunning it momentarily. A moment was all she needed. She grabbed the sword with her free hand, swinging it under her arm and severing the beast's free arm. She then swung the sword high and brought it down hard into the beast's chest. It twitched twice, then lay still.
Keina got to her feet and surveyed the scene. Four beasts lay on the ground, dead, while the blind one still staggered around, trying to find its way. Keina went to where she dropped her bow, picked it up, and with a simple shot stole the last beast's breath forever.
In the distance, she heard howling- more wolf-beasts were approaching. They were only a matter of minutes away. She quickly moved about, working hard to cover her traces. She scattered dirt over the places where she had been, not bothering with the beasts. With a flash of inspiration, she drew out a small skinning knife and cut her forearm. Dripping blood, she walked about a hundred yards in the direction opposite of her destination, right to a stream. That would, she was sure, draw the coming beasts away from her as she moved further up the path.
Keina's wounds were light and almost superficial, but she dressed them quickly and continued up the path.

**********

Other than two more pairs of wolf-men stalking along the path and surrounding brush, , which she avoided by hiding again in the shadows, Keina encountered no more resistance as she reached the summit of the hill, where she found the entrance to a cave. As she approached it, she felt a slight breeze coming out of the mouth. That's curious, she thought, but then realized what it probably meant. To be sure, she sent Mush'a flying up and over the cave. The owl returned a few minutes later, and Keina's suspicions were confirmed- it wasn't really a cave so much as a tunnel, and a relatively short one, probably no more thana few dozen yards.
With Mush'a perched on her shoulder, Keina moved into the cave's darkness. Her elven eyesight, though not perfect in the dark, allowed her to see enough of the path so as to avoid any walls. Her ears were listening sharply for the slightest sound, but there was none. Perhaps any wolf-beasts who had been here were now examining the sight of her battle. With luck, they'd stay to investigate for a while.
She exited the tunnel a few minutes later onto a ledge overlooking a small clearing with a small structure towards the back, unmistakably an ancient elven shrine. There were no wolf-beasts in sight, and just in front of the shrine lay a large, square stone in the ground, almost like a gravestone of some kind. To her right, a path led down into the clearing.
Leaving Mush'a on the ledge to act as a sentry, Keina worked her way down the path towards the shrine, bow and arrow in hand. She reached the tall structure and examined it, but found only a few cracks and some weeds growing at the base, nothing of interest.
Keina bent down to look at the square stone, and was somewhat surprised to see writing on it. She peered closely at the incsriptions, and saw that they were written in Darnassian. There was something unusual about them, though. It seemed to Keina that the writing had a kind of energy to it, almost like a pulse. It seemed to her, strange as it was, that the letters themselves were alive.
Keina suddenly drew a sharp breath. A thought had occured to her, something her father had told her about some years before. It was something she had found interesting, but had never seen. She got the impression from her father that spirit writing was a very rare gift, something very few night elves knew how or were able to do.
Keina's eyes flicked to the top side of the stone, where the writing began. There was the inscription, just as her father had told her it would always be with spirit writing.
Spirit writing allowed the writer of words to imbue the text with a kind of avatar of their spirit. The text was meant to be read in pure Darnassian, which limited it to night elves; not even other races speaking perfect Darnassian were supposed to be able to unlock the spirit writing's magic. What happened exactly, though, Keina's father hadn't been too sure about, only that it was supposed to be quite an experience.
Keina's heart beat a little faster as she laid her hands on the sides of the stone, as her father had told her must be done. She took a deep breath, and in Darnassian, read the inscription at the top. "Tor'anu'dora..."
"Let the truth be known."
Suddenly the air around her started to swirl. There was a power in this wind, yet it did not disturb the leaves or grass on the ground. Keina felt it blow around her, and it felt cool to her violet skin. In front of her, above the stone, a form started to take shape. Keina stood and took a couple of steps back.
After a few moments, the form was clear- it was a night elf, a Sentinel, judging by her clothing and armor. She had deep indigo hair, which contrasted strongly with her light lilac skin. She was kneeling, almost like she was bowing. It wasn't a solid image; Keina could see the trees behind it. But it was very real.
It stood and looked ahead at Keina...except it wasn't looking at her. It seemed like the Sentinel image was staring through the huntress, past her. It started to speak.
"This is the record that I, Velinde Starsong, make, on this day, the fourth since the seventh new moon began..."

Picture This!

To help readers to visualize the story a little better, here are some images (if you haven't already, note the images depicting the two main characters on the right side of the page).

This is what Mush'a, Keina's owl looks like. I'd imagine its wingspan to be about 8 feet. It is a remarkably light bird, but very powerful and with razor sharp talons.

This is Ishna, Keina's riding nightsaber. Basically it's a big tiger: very agile, very strong and very useful in combat. Except Ishna doesn't have the goofy-looking head plate-decoration-protector thingy. It just looks odd.

These are the weapons Keina uses:

First, her bow. Her bow is one of those used by the Silverwing Sentinels, light but extremely powerful. Keina's keen eyesight and strength allow her to shoot with pinpoint and deadly accuracy from distances up to 100 yards.












When close combat is called on, Keina uses one or both of two weapons. Her hunting sword, made of truesilver, is both light and strong, making quick killing strokes easy. Its design doesn't make it a great defensive tool for blocking other's moves.

















That's why she has her war staff. Thanks to clever gnomish engineering, the staff actually breaks down into two smaller halves. This is mainly for traveling convenience, especially when riding on Ishna. Keina, however, uses the staff's halves in combat as well- either the bladed end for both another blade with which to strike or block, or the bottom half as a blocking tool or blunt weapon.

Nicholas rides a black stallion named Adil, which he has owned and ridden since he was a teenager. Adil looks much like the horse below.

Being a rogue, Nicholas spends a lot of his time in the shadows, has a different combat style. When striking from the shadows, he uses his primary weapons- two daggers, with blades about 9-10 inches, made from mithril, which is, in the words of Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, is "light as a feather, and as hard as dragon scales." The light weight allows Nicholas to wield the daggers with blinding speed. The idea is to incapacitate or otherwise neutralize his target in the first strike or two. If he anticipates a longer battle, then he will use his first moves to inflict the most damage he can or open deep wounds that will cause a steady loss of blood in his opponent, weakening them as the fight goes on.

Though deadly with the daggers, they aren't the best choices for fights that last longer than Nicholas' first one or two strikes. That's why Nicholas carries, on his back, two short swords, both also made of mithril. The curved blade is a gift from his friend, Myrokos Silentform, the blood elf who recruited Nicholas to the Ravenholdt Order of thieves, spies, and assassins. The other is a strong dwarven blade which he acquired from the dwarves of Dun Garok during the war with the Scourge.

On occasion, Nicholas has need to strike from a distance. This he does with a crossbow, also of dwarven make. It's the perfect tool for someone hiding in the shadows for three reasons: 1) though typically a two-handed weapon, its small size allows him to shoot with one hand as the situation calls for, 2) when it shoots it makes very little noise, and 3) the bow part folds down for easy storage on Nicholas' back when he travels.

The Beginning

Here I will post my story as it forms. It is based on characters and elements from the world of Warcraft, as envisioned by the Warcraft game series. Most of it is based off of characters and storylines in the game World of Warcraft, my favorite video game which I no longer play, due to time and financial constraints. If I could play again, I would. Instead I am resigned to reminiscing about the good ol' days with my friend, Jeff (also a recovering Warcraft-oholic), and my brother-in-law, of whom I am envious because he does have the means to play.

This is a work-in-beginning-progress, hopefully to be more fruitful than my off-to-a-sudden-stop Star Wars-based story. Feel free to comment, to critique, and to offer advice.

All characters, places, events, and related elements are taken from and based on the Warcraft Universe, created by Blizzard Entertainment. They have exclusive rights to the Warcraft Universe. This story is for simple entertainment and is not, for the time being, to be used in any way for profit of any kind.

I hope, should Blizzard stumble upon this small corner of the internet, that they will allow me to express my creativity through their world.