A small fish in a infinite sea (SI).

[Hiver]

I stood up and stared at The Dark Portal. It wasn't actually that dark.

The portal arch was made from solid grey rock, carved with some kind of markings I did not recognize. Two massive statues of cloaked figures with swords flanked the ramp up to the portal and at the top of the 'doorframe' there was a massive snake carved.

The portal itself looked like a surface full of stars with a faint green mist swirling across the surface.

If I channeled some blue mana, the gate was shining. This thing was enchanted to fucking hell and back and I am not sure I want to meet whoever it was that built the damn thing in the first place.

The skill to make this thing...

"What do you think?" Dawn asked as she walked up next to me.

"I am impressed. I might be able to build something like this if I had a couple of hundred years to figure out how, but that's about it." I answered before I shook my head and turned to her "What's the word?"

She shrugged "According to the latest message from the other side, they have been pushing the demons back. We go through tomorrow."

I slowly nodded, glancing at the portal again. Wonder if it goes to a different planet or to an actual different plane?

"I'm going to be busy for the rest of the day." Dawn added "Master Cloudsong wants to get some last minute training in before we go through."

"That might not be the worst idea in the world." I said, giving her a nod "Wish we had time to teach you some of my magic as well."

"We will have time on the other side. We wont be moving around as much then." She said and then gave me a small smile and a wave before she started to make her way across the camp.


I glanced after her before starting up the ramp to the portal itself only to stop a meter away from the barrier to look across the surface.

It looked like it did from the bottom.

"You don't go through until tomorrow when we get the next message." somebody said and I looked to the side at the human guard that spoke up.

There were four of them, guarding the portal.

I slowly nodded "Not planning to. Just want a good look."

Make sense to only send people through if they know it is clear on the other side or people might walk straight into a ambush.

He frowned slightly and took of his helmet "You arrived with the horde caravan, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah." I answered, squinting slightly at the stars in the dark barrier and I put my hand up close to it.

I could barely feel it, other than the strong magic in the barrier, and I didn't want to touch it. This thing was seriously creepy and powerful.

Very, very impressive.

"How come you two ended up traveling with them? Orcs are not exactly know for being friendly." He asked while walking up "What are you doing anyway? Not like you're the first newcomer wanting a close look before going through. I know I did the same thing."

"I'm trying to figure out where this thing goes ..." I said before I lowered my hand and shook my head "No such luck though. As for why we traveled with them it is because it was convenient. You needed healers so here we are."

He looked surprised at that before he looked me over. "You are a Priest?" he asked to my amusement.

Does being seen as a god count?

"Of sorts, I guess? I can heal if that is what you ask." I said as I turned to face him "Why do you ask?"

The guard shrugged "You just don't seem the sort."

I grinned and shook my head before turning to walk down the ramp again. The guards by the portal were mostly to keep random people from wandering through.

The real defenses are on the other side and around the portal on this side. It was nothing like the game ... yes, it still looked like it got thrown together in short order, but it was much more extensive.

The first row of defenses were sharpened logs made to narrow the amount of invaders that could come through while at the same time channeling them somewhere they can be focused down.

There were more lines of defenses further out, wooden towers with archers and mages along with several walls of logs driven down deep in the hard, dry ground.

Honestly, not a bad defense considering they put it up as soon as the portal opened. There even been some more permanent constructions in the outer ring of defenses where they had started to replace the log wall with large stone blocks.

All in all, they where doing a good job on this side.

If reports were right and they were already driving the demons and corrupted Orcs back on the other side of the portal, this might not be so bad.

Train Dawn, help a bit with the healing of the injured.

The alliance and horde sounded like they were on top of things so far at least. They did after all manage it on their own in canon so with me helping putting soldiers back on the field, this should go well enough.

If I do things right, I might avoid being deified this time.

I frowned slightly at that thought before I turned right and continued towards the Horde side of the camp.

Hell, even if I go full out I might be able to avoid it in this place. There are after all actual Old Gods and Titans running around.

Well, the titans are not running around, but their creations are.

I have only created one new species of Raven, I dont even compare to them so I should be able to stay under the radar anyway.

Glancing back at the portal one last time I just sighed and shook my head before turning the corner to find my tent.

Yeah. Something tells me that staying beneath the radar simply wont happen.

At least not long term.


XXXXXXXXXXXX


I shivered "Ugh!" as we rode through The Dark Portal.

"I think I'm going to throw up." Dawn groaned from in front of me.

"Don't!" I quickly said "Deep breaths." while looking around, following my own advice.

Hellfire Peninsula was very familiar looking. The skies were breathtaking. Even more was the pure mana in the air.

This place as practically vibrating with it! On this side the portal monument was much more ornate, bigger and more impressive.

The defenses were not quite as elaborate though as they were newer.

Still, no demons in sight.

This place was falling apart. I licked my lips as I looked around. I did not want to be here. The pure demonic corruption was everywhere.

If this was the kind of world Mary grew up in...no wonder she was bugnuts insane.

I touched my Spark slightly and then slowly nodded. This place did not feel like Azeroth.

"Dawn, we changed Planes. We are no longer in Azeroth. We might be in the same relative place though. I'll check later." I said quietly.

She nodded slowly as she looked around with wide eyes "This place looks amazing. Look at the skies." as she said as our kodo followed the wagon in front of us.

I looked up at the streams of energy across the skies, large spheres high in the skies. Rocks floating around.

"Absolutely beautiful."

Pure destruction is beautiful after all. Hurricanes, thunderstorms, nuclear detonations. All beautiful.

A Plane being torn to pieces...how could it be anything else but beautiful.

Better teach Dawn how to walk properly sooner rather than later in case this place breaks up completely. She won't be able to navigate without using Lands as navigation beacons like I do, but she would be able to escape at least.




AN// Many thanks to Dimensionist for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

We fell back into reality, my knees hitting the paved road as Dawn ended up sprawled on the ground next to me.

I looked around, taking in our surroundings. Some kind of city. It looked like...Earth. Of sorts.

"W-where are we?" Dawn gasped, forcing herself to roll onto her back as she gasped for breath.

I looked both ways down the street, the place was empty. Nobody around, just some cars.

"Earth. Or some version of it. Looks empty." I said as I got to my feet. This was very...wrong. Position of the sun said midday.

Empty streets meant one of three things. Nuclear war, biowar or alien invasion. As we were not already dead, it ruled out some kind of toxic gas attack.

Dawn struggled up to sit as I activated my omnitool to run a full NBC scan "What is this place?" She asked as she looked around "It's empty."

"It is." I answered, frowning at the readings. That's...strange. No nuclear radiations indicating any major exchanges, No airborne viruses that weren't natural. The limited ECCM suit in the omnitool didn't pick up any radio signals either.

This was majorly strange.

I looked around once more. Why would this place be empty in the middle of the day?
"Something is very off here." I said as Dawn struggled to her feet.

"Yeah, you don't say. Place is abandoned." She said and sighed "Does that ever get any easier?"

I nodded "It does. Still exhausting though. You do not want to make several trips in fast order."
This was kind of freaking me out "Now, let's have a look around. This is very, very wrong. Keep your weapon ready." I said as I unbuttoned my gun holster.

We started to slowly make our way down the street, Dawn drawing her dagger. She was more of a healer than a fighter.

The place was abandoned...couldn't have been too long ago. The streets was not overgrown and the cars looked wholeish. Other than the ones that was smashed.

We slowly approached an intersection. There had been a car crash, some kind of SUV had smacked into a smaller car, an old Beetle.

There was a body in the smaller car.

"Wait here." I said, giving Dawn a glance before I walked over to the car. My omnitool might be able to get a good scan at close range. Find out if he was infected by something...I was reasonably sure I would be able to purge myself and Dawn of any illness before we went to another Plane if we were infected.

I'd never run into one that I was unable to remove before, not unless it was just before death or if massive damage had already been done. Then it was a bit more...tricky.

As I got closer the corpse started to move, trying to get to me. Holy crap, an actual zombie!
One I didn't raise that is. Did not expect that. Zombie plague? Huh. Freaky. Still, they aren't usually airborne what I know so, not that bad. Just don't get bitten or scratched.

I slowly backed away, returning to Dawn before I deployed a drone from my omnitool, letting it fly over to the trapped zombie to take a close range scan instead.

Dawn was staring at the ex-person reaching through the broken car window, trying to get at us. The carbelt kept it trapped.

"Is...is that what I think it is?" she asked as she swallowed.

I nodded "Scan say...maybe?" as I frowned at the scans on my omnitool. Something was keeping that thing moving, but hell if I could read this scan properly. This was not a simple matter and while I was ok at this stuff, I was hardly an expert. Dr Chakwas might had been able to figure it out though. The scan did find some kind of viral residue though.
Frowning at the clawing corpse I thought I would try something. Zombies don't attack necromancers. At least none I have ever heard about.

"Dawn, come closer." I said and she quickly stepped up before I channeled some black mana into both of us.

The zombie stopped struggling and just collapsed again when I covered both Dawn and me in a thin, invisible aura of black mana.

Well, that worked.

"What did you do?" Dawn asked with a small frown "That felt...creepy. All crawly and cold."

"Black mana...not the nicest stuff. Death magic mostly...thought it might cause it to leave us alone. Worked on white walkers as long as their boss was not around." I answered with a shrug "Guess it work on non-magical zombies too."

She shivered "Well, whatever it was, that sucked. Shall we leave?"

I shrugged "I don't really see any reason we should. This place is dead..." I said before I frowned at the dead thing sitting in the carseat "Well, of sorts. As long as we don't get bit or scratched, we will be fine. Besides, they should ignore us now."

"So...what now?" Dawn asked with a small frown, trying not to look at the zombie.

I shrugged "Hey, you picked this Plane. As long as we keep our senses about us, there is no reason not to stick around for a couple of hours. Good place to practice magic without needing to worry about what you wreck." I said and then grinned "Besides, it's also a good place to see if we can't pick up any loot. Gold jewelry always sell well."

"What about the time difference? We don't know how fast this one moves compared to Azeroth." She said while looking around "Also, Can I have something with a bit more range than this?" she said, showing me her dagger "I don't know if the spirits here will work with me."

I nodded, "know how to use a gun?"

She hesitated and then shook her head.

"Remind me to teach you some other time." I said, summoning a quarterstaff of asguardian metal instead "This should give you the reach you need. Aim for the heads. With some luck, they won't get close enough to try anything. As for the time difference...we are only staying for a couple of hours. Sunnydale is the slowest place I have found and Azeroth the fastest. This place is likely in the middle somewhere so the lag should not be too bad."

Handing the quarterstaff over I turned and fireballed the car before I continued down the street "Come on. Let's find a quiet spot and we can see if the spirits are with you here as well."

Dawn quickly nodded before rushing up to stay close to my side while looking around nervously.

I couldn't exactly blame her for that...Zombies are fucking freaky and if I couldn't flatted a city block as well as most likely being able to cure the virus if we were infected at some point.

At least I was 99% sure. It wasn't magical and I never had any problems curing non magical infections in the past.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Dawn was trying to contact the elements and I was watching, channeling some blue mana into my eyes to try to see what she was doing...with not a lot of luck. She hadn't had much yet either, but she had only been at it for a couple of moments.

Because of my enhanced senses I noticed something tugging at the edges of my perception. There was something out there. I quickly spun to face a blur in the air, my hand seeking my pistol, resting on it but not drawing it yet though.

The blur faded into a man wearing some kind of sci-fi armor...or I thought it was a man. Shape was right at least, might be some kind of android though.

What worried me more though was the weapon he was carrying. It looked advanced, more advanced than mine. Which meant dangerous.

I quickly raised my left hand, channeling white mana into a shield around me and Dawn as she spun to face him, coming out of her trance, her hand going for her dagger as the figure spoke up.

"G'day."

Australian? What?

"Hello." I answered, moving my hand from my pistol to touch Dawns hand, keeping her from drawing her dagger. No need to escalate things. Unless his gun had the punch of a main battle tank he is not getting through the shield in a single shot. Besides, it was not aimed at us or even drawn. And something told me that both the armor and weapon was real. You don't run around in a Zombie apocalypse wearing cosplay.

He looked like he was staring at us, his hand close to his weapon "Who are you?" he asked after a moment.

"My name is Winter. This is Sunrise." I said, motioning towards Dawn. She gave me a quizzical look but didn't complain and I smiled slightly. Need to remember to lecture her about handing out real names...you never know what kind of funky magic is out there.

"Now, who are you and where are you from? Your armor and weaponry are not indicative of this world's level of technology" I said.

"I'm Alexander. I'm not from around here, but neither are you." The man in the armor said and I watched him through the shield.

Alexander...That's an interesting name to pick. 'Defender of Man'...somebody has a bit of a ego. Well, unless it was his real name but what kind of Planeswalker gives out his real name? Doing so on the wrong Plane could be suicide.

I slowly nodded "I see." as I looked him over, channeling a bit more blue mana. I couldn't detect a single thing magical about him or his armor. No active spells... He is from a world without magic then? And never learned it. Interesting.

"It this world your doing?" I then asked, causing Dawn to look at me before turning to stare at him. Last thing I need is another mad Planeswalker I need to take out.

Alexander stared at us for a moment before he shook his head "No, It's not. I found it like this.

I was unsure if I believed him. The odds of running into somebody with advanced technology on a zombiefied world was minimal. But as I had no proof in either direction I simply nodded and lowered my hand but I let the shield stay up.

This guy is a Planeswalker. It was the only logical reason for his technology being present in this world. It didn't matter if he didn't use magic for some reason, I'm not lowering my guard.

"May I ask what you two are doing here?" Alexander asked as he unlocked his helmet and took it off to reveal an average face with short cut brown hair.

I shrugged slightly. What to say? Hell, there was no real reason to lie.

"I'm teaching my Apprentice to Walk. Quite a tricky thing to learn on your own." I said, glancing at Dawn who was eying him nervously. Don't blame her for that, I told her about Mary.

Alexander frowned slightly for a second before some emotion I didn't have time to identify flickered across his face "I see." he said and looked slightly uncomfortable for a second.

Why would he look uncomfortable? I could see how I would make him nervous, He could likely see that I had some power to back me up if needed, but why would me teaching Dawn to Walk make him nervous?

Well, unless...

I tilted my head slightly to the side as I watched him, channeling a bit of black mana to get a look of his soul.

It was normal. No spark. Just a human.

"Oh, I see..." I said as I started to smile slightly "You do not have a Spark. You are human, not a Planeswalker."

He definitely looked nervous now. So he was a human in advanced armor that knew about our kind. But he was on a low tech world...well, relatively low tech. He was not from here, but he was not a Planeswalker.

He was a slider, he traveled by technology.

"Now that 'is' interesting." I added as I eyed his armor and Dawn glanced at me.

"What is?" She asked with a small frown, looking between Alexander and me.

"He isn't like us. He is a normal human. No Spark." I told her as I started to relax, now feeling significantly safer "So, how do you travel?" I then asked him.

"Now mate, lets not doing anything rash please" He said, backing away slightly, his hand going close to his gun. He had definitely heard about our kind before.

I shook my head "I have no interest in whatever trinket you use to travel between worlds. I'm simply curious."

He licked his lips and looked like he much rather be anywhere else "It's an alien computer device. It's keyed to me, nobody else can use it."

Dawn kept her hand on her metal staff, not looking like she had relaxed much even if she kept her hand of her dagger for now.

Good girl.

"I see." I said as I nodded "Is this your first world or are you simply here for the looting?"

Unless he was from a really high tech world, that armor and weapon was not free. Hell, even then it likely cost a pretty penny.

"Mostly the looting, Sir." He said to my amusement. Trying not to offend the eldritch abominations are we?

I nodded slowly. I could hardly object to him doing some looting of this dead world. I planned to do the same after all...gold and such hardly do the dead any good.

That gun of his looked interesting though. Some kind of energy weapon from the look of it. Almost like a blaster if a bit more practical looking.

"How about a trade?" I asked as I reached into a pocket on the inside of my cloak, pulling out a small bottle.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked nervously watching the small vial.

"This is a healing potion. It can heal anything from small cuts to internal injury...not really good for broken bones, they need to be set first but it does reduce the healing time. You can have it." I said and held it up so he could see the red liquid in it.

Dawn let me do the talking and Alexander looked hesitant "What exactly do you want for it? How does it work?"

I shrugged "I want that gun of yours, it's shiny. As for how it works...you drink it. If you're wondering if it is magic or science that makes it work, I honestly do not know. I'm sure you can analyse it however and see if you are able to identify the active ingredients.". I then smiled "It is a bit of a risk for you, I admit. It might turn out to be magical and then it might be impossible to synthesize."

Alexander looked hesitant but pulled his gun slowly "Put it on the ground."

Smiling I did so before I slowly backed away from it, motioning for Dawn to do the same. I stopped five meters away and he slowly walked over and put his gun down, picking the vial up.

He likely knew enough about my kind to know that his gun might not have saved him anyway if we turned hostile.

"I'm...going to leave now. With your permission, Sir?" he said as he put the vial in a small pouch on the harness of his armor.

I nodded "Go if you like. We will remain here for a small while longer." I said as he put on his helmet and slowly backed out of sight behind the closest building.

I looked after him for a long moment before I dropped the shield and turned to Dawn "Let's go. We'll hit some Jewellery stores and then when we leave we'll have something to trade."

"Think he will come after us?" She asked as I floated my new gun into my hand before putting it in my pack.

I shook my head "I don't think so, he looked like he didn't want anything more than get out of our sight...but I'd rather not find out I'm wrong. We grab what we want and then we get out."

Dawn nodded and we started to make our way down the street.





AN// This was a colab part together with tkioz. For the other perspective of the encounter, it can be found here http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/cruel-to-be-kind-si-multicross.259260/page-30#post-11757488

 

[Hiver]

I crossed my legs and frowned as I closed down my omnitool, watching the disassembled Blaster pistol lying on the small table.

While it was hardly expensive, a cheap bottle of healing potion for an energy weapon was a good deal...but there was no way to recharge it.

It needed more current to charge the powercell than my omnitool could filter through from my magical charge. Simply it did not have the throughput needed.

So until I find somewhere to recharge it, best estimate I get from the charge is another 45 shots left. After that it would be a paperweight.

I simply don't have the control to charge something without filtering the power through the omnitool. I would fry the circuitry.

I shook my head and carefully started to put it together again. So much for lucking out and getting Dawnie a good backup to her magic in case it's needed.

Guess I could go and pop back to that Zombie earth, and find her a pistol of some sort and teach her to shoot.

Speaking of which...


I tapped my finger on the handle of the blaster. Honestly it looked and shot like something from star wars. Wonder where he found it?

That traveler...Alexander. Did I do right when I let him go? Should I have killed him to make sure the Zombie plague didn't escape?

It had already killed one earth.

Sighing I finished putting the blaster together but leaving the powercell out. Best not let one of the locals run off with a working blaster.

No matter. It was too late to do something about now, and not like they weren't worse plagues likely running around. If I remember right, Marvel Zombies had dimension traveling technology.

I froze and then shivered at that thought. Ugh, I did not need that paranoia fuel.

Shaking my head I stood up and walked to put the weapon away in the trunk I had been supplied, keeping the powercell in my pack before I stood up and looked around the small tent.

We where now living in Thrallamar but instead of being assigned beds in one of the barracks, Dawn and I was supplied with a small tent outside one of them.

Honestly, I didn't know why. Might be a security or morale issue. The warriors here had been fighting demons, orcs...and Alliance for a long time. Sleeping in the same room as a couple of humans would not have been something they would have done voluntarily.

Either way, the tent is large enough for two hammocks, a small table with a couple of chairs and a pair of trunks...well…more footlockers, but still.

I offered Dawn to take the tent for herself and I could find somewhere else to sleep.

She called me an idiot.

I'm not entirely convinced she was not right. Still, it felt like asking was the right thing to do...


All in all, the tent was not bad actually. It almost made me nostalgic for the time back in the Stark camp...it was not that dissimilar, actually.

Well, my tent back then was a good deal larger, but this wasn't bad.


I was brought out of my musings as Dawn walked inside and I frowned slightly when I spotted her. Something was off.

"Dawn?" I asked as I turned to her. She was carrying a mace along with her dagger. "What's with the heavy weaponry?"

She looked away slightly and I frowned. "Dawn...what did you do?"

"They need my help, ok?" she said quickly while making her way over to kneel by her footlocker, to pull out a satchel and start to pack it with healing herbs and potions.

"I have heard that thing before..." I said "That's how we ended up here, remember? What happened?"

Dawn cleared her throat and frowned. "I better restock on antidotes..." as she finished stocking the satchel and then shook her head as she stood up. "You know how we are cut off from the rest of Outland? With the fortress?"

The Alliance and Horde were doing pretty ok. Once some hero adventurer was able to take down the portals that kept funneling reinforcements to hold them back at the gate, they pushed the Legion forces halfway back across Hellfire Peninsula and all the way back to the half wrecked fortress that reached across the entire area.

Hellfire Citadel. But there they ran into a wall...to a well defended, well organized wall.

Magic or not the wall was too thick for siege weapons, and the orcs and their demonic masters were dug in deep...the wall that cut the area in half was broken at places, but we simply could not advance past The Citadel.

That would leave a major enemy force at our back.

"Yes..." I answered with a frown. "What did you get yourself roped in to this time?"

"They came and asked for healers...for volunteers. I figured as I could easily escape if things went wrong, I..." Dawn quickly said.

"Dawn. What. Did. You. Do?" I asked once more.

"They are sending in a small team to take out the leaders of the defenders of The Citadel. They need a healer to go with them...they figured that a small team might be able to sneak into the place and take them out. The armies could then attack when they are disorganized. If the army attacks The Citadel we might win, but we would lose half the men. A small team might be able to sneak in."

I stared at her, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.

"Let me get this straight...you are going to sneak into a demon infested fortress with only a couple of soldiers?" I finally asked.

She frowned "There won't be any real danger. We will sneak in and they will take out the leaders...I won't be in combat, I'm just the healer. I stay back and if they are hurt, I help them. I won't even be doing any fighting. Besides, not like I can't Walk out if things go wrong."

Oh yes. Definitely a headache.

"Dawn...that's... You can't navigate!" I started, rubbing my forehead. Oh for crying out loud...Yes, Dawn was definitely created from Buffy.

She frowned. "I can still go to the closest survivable Plane and stay close to where I emerged. You should easily be able to find me again."

Same damn trouble magnets, same damn disregard for their own safety. It wasn't the Slayer spirit, it was bloody Summers blood! Was Mrs. Summers like this in her youth?

"For crying out loud, Dawn. I'm meant to keep you safe!" I exclaimed. "Bloody hell! It's bad enough that we are here at the front lines and now you want to wander into a demon infested fortress!"

"Because it needs to be done!" she said. "This is why I am here, to help! Why should I put somebody else in danger when I can do the same job and escape if needed!"

"You are an apprentice shaman, are there no more qualified healers?! What did Cloudsong say about this?" I asked and earned myself a glare.

"He vouched for me when the Orc leading the team doubted my skill. He said it was my choice. As for being half trained, healing is what I am best at. I might not be up to Master Cloudsong's skill, but I am good." She quickly said as she strapped the satchel on before she turned to walk out "I leave in an hour."

That left me standing in the tent, looking after her before I took a deep, slow breath.


Oh yes. There is that headache...the special kind that I always used to have, when Buffy went off to do something boneheaded.

I gritted my teeth and walked to strap on my M-6, before I shrugged my cloak on and followed her out of the tent.


I swear, Summers girls are going to be the death of me. I was just wrong in the past, thinking that it would be Buffy.





AN// Big thanks to SakSak for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

I pressed my back against the black rock of the thick wall as Siviria,a blood elf girl in tiny leather armor with massive daggers, peered around the corner before signaling back at us.

Two Orcs.

She pulled out one of her daggers as Kanyen, the troll hunter, pulled an arrow from his quiver.

Gurok, the Orc Warrior and the leader of the little group, simply clutched his big axe.

I glanced back at Dawn; she was holding her small mace in her hand and I shook my head at her, motioning for her to stay back as Kanyen and Siviria slipped around the corner with Kanyen's rather massive black panther of a pet padding after them.

We had been at this for hours...sneaking, ambushing small patrols to keep them from raising the alarm. But we were almost at the first target.

Not for the first time though I wished power ramped up like in the game. If mana worked exponentially like the game, I could have turned this fortress into magma.

Not so much in reality.

This stupid fortress pathways was too narrow for giant warrens and without something like that, they could bury us in bodies or simply keep coming until I ran out of mana if I tried to blast my way in.

Which mean stealth was the only way.



Flashback

"You are that other human. What are you doing here?" the large Orc asked as Dawn and I walked up to the small group.

The blue troll with the bow was crouched, rubbing the ears of a large panther while the blood elf girl with the daggers from the caravan was sharpening one of them.

"I'm going with you." I answered him simply.

"You are not. We already have a healer, we can not babysit another one. Summers, get ready. We are leaving now, we are in a hurry." The Orc said and turned away towards the other Orc handling the Windrider.

"I am going or she isn't." I told him, crossing my arms.

"We do not have time to find another healer! We are on a timelimit!" the orc, Gurok growled and turned to me, almost a foot taller than me and like three times my size.

I wasn't impressed.

"Then you don't have time to argue either. I'm going or she isn't."

Dawn did not look happy but I told her in no uncertain terms on the way here that either I go with her or I tie her down until she grow a brain.

Gurok growled "I can make you go away, Human."

"Try it. Even if you manage it, it will slow you down. The more we talk, the more you are delayed."

Yes. I know that kind of frustration. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. And for once I get to inflict it on somebody else.

He growled and then nodded, turning back to the windrider master.

"Can you even do something useful?" the blood elf which I would later find out was named Siviria asked as she put her dagger away.

"I can handle myself."

Flashback end



There was a small shuffle around the corner, the sound barely louder than a loud whisper. Gurok peered around the corner before nodding back at us, motioning us to follow him.

Two red skinned Orcs were laying on the floor of the hallway, one with his throat slit and the other with his throat outright ripped out, the panther's muzzle covered with blood.

Siviria gave us a nod and motioned for us to follow her. I carefully stepped over the corspse of closest corrupted orc, Dawn grimacing at the sight but following me.

Still we have been helping healing troops for the last few weeks we were here, she should be used to blood by now.


We had already taken out one of the targets, a Watchkeeper Gargolmar. Siviria slipped into the small camp as we skirted around the edge. Slit his throat in his sleep.

That chick was scary.

"Scout plans say we are almost there." Siviria whispered back at us "Get ready."

The roof of the citadel, one of the roofs of the hellfire citadel. The prowling grounds of Omor the Unscarred. One of the leaders of this place, he was spotted most days watching our troop movements from the top of one of the platforms.

A demon.


As we stopped I moved across the hall, pressing my way against the back and peaked around the corner out into the empty space of the roof of the citadel. There was a small camp of orcs, about fifty meters away. They looked like they were focused around their fires though.

Siviria motioned us to stay silent as she slipped around the corner before motioned us forward. We slowly moved along the wall, the rest of us was easy enough, but I have no idea how Gurok managed it. The damn orc was large as a house and wearing plate armor but he was still quiet.

"Stay down." I whispered to Dawn, making her duck a bit lower as we slowly made our way along the wall into the next hallway.

Siviria motioned to us to stay there and we hid against the walls of the fortress from the view of the small camp of Orc sentries as she ghosted down the length of the long hallway.

I'm not entirely sure what it is she does when she sneaks around, but when she does it my eyes kind of...glide off her. They don't want to see her.


I don't even know if it is magic or some kind of special talent.I need to find out at some point, knowing how to do that would have been really, really useful at multiple times in the past.

"You ok?" I asked Dawn silently and she swallowed, nodding while pressing her back against the wall, her small mace held in her right hand.

Damn it, she should not be here!


Siviria returned a minute later, stopping by Gurok "I saw Omor, he is on the platform like the scouts said he would be." She whispered, I could barely hear her a couple of meters away "He has two guards standing by the exit of the tunnel and he is massive. Taking him down, will make noise. We will be discovered."

Gurok gritted his teeth "So we fight. I haven't had a good scrap in days. If we take him down, we finish our mission even if we are unable to escape."

I didn't sign up for a suicide mission "Stay here, Dawn." I whispered to her before I moved past Kanyen and his cat and stepped up to Gurok "I can take him. Silently. His guards too."

"Don't be ridiculous, human." he growled silently "Even one of his guards would crush you."

"If I fail, you can still fight him front on." I said and then started down the hallway, staying close to the wall.

I heard a silent curse behind me but nobody tried to stop me.


Glancing back when I reached the end I saw the rest of the group had followed me but staying back a bit.

I glanced around the corner and out on the platform. Damn...that demon was massive. Like six meters tall, black and purple. Wings on the back, goat feet, horns...the entire deal.

Somebody is going with the classics. Closer to the hallway, only four meters away, a pair of red skinned orcs wearing robes were standing. The orcs were facing away from the portal.

Idiots.

Omor was also facing away, looking out over the area. Good, that might mean that my plan might actually work.

I glanced back, giving them a small nod before I stepped out in the open, slowly and silently walking out towards the Orcs.

Channeling some black mana into my hands I touched the back of their heads and before they are able to react, I pulled their souls out. Their bodies dropped and I caught them with my mind, slowly lowering them to the floor to keep them from making any sound.

Letting their souls go I slowly and silently started to make my way across the platform towards the massive demon.


The worst part of sneaking around is keeping your breathing under control as your adrenaline surges. Be quiet, don't make noise. Sadly, I can only pull souls...or the equivalent...out at touch, not range. All my other deadly spells are flashy, loud.

This needed to be quiet.

I slowly charged some black mana into my right hand as I got within a couple of meters.

Now, I just need to touch you so I can...


Omoc turned around, grinning down at me "Think I didn't feel your magic, priest?" and then he swing his hand fist at me.

I dropped the black mana, flaring up a shield with a surge of white mana to block his punch.

The punch deflected off the shield and I charged red mana in my hand as I stepped back. A flameslash should finish him off before he could do anything serious.

The massive demon growled and swung at me again, waving his other hand.


A felhound appeared out of empty air and pounced and suddenly my shield dissipated as the small demon hit it, the spell structure simply breaking down into nothing!

I felt a surge of panic and threw myself to the side...and that likely saved my life. The massive fist mashed into my side and everything was pain.

My left arm and bones snapped, crushing beneath the punch as it threw me to the side, launching me across the platform, my left ribs snapping and being pushed into my lung as I landed on the rock, rolling to a stop.

I couldn't breath. I couldn't think.

Pain. Couldn't focus. Couldn't pull on my mana.


Everything was pain.


The next thing I knew it felt like I had been dropped into a cold mountain stream. As I forced my eyes open I saw Dawn, ten meters away. She was shooting a green stream of magic at me.

I could feel my ribs pull out of my lung. It hurt like a motherfucker, but it was helping. I could focus again.

Gurok was not in sight, but Siviria was engaging the demon, dancing around his punches and gutting felhounds.
Kanyen was not in sight either and neither was his cat.

Omoc growled and blasted Siviria with a wave of dark energy, throwing her of her feet.

Then he rushed at Dawn.


I tried to warn her. But I couldn't breath.


The large demon wrapped his hand around her chest and squeezed. I could hear the snapping and crunching of bone even through her scream before he tossed her across the platform, her arms sticking out at unnatural angles as she rolled to a stop.

She didn't move.


It killed Dawn.


I stared at her. She was still. Just laying there.

I pulled at my mana. Green and white mana flooded my body, my ribs starting to snap back into place and I forced myself to move through my pain, rolling onto my knees as I coughed, spitting blood out as my lung regenerated.

He killed Dawn.

"Om..." I started to yell, coughing loudly, spitting out the rest of the blood "Omor!"

He killed Dawn. I thought I would be angry.

I thought I would be sad...furious.

I just felt empty as I struggled onto my feet. Empty and pain.


The demon laughed and blaster Siviria of her feet again and summoned a couple of felhounds to keep her busy as he turned to me.

"You are still alive then, priest?" he said, grinning wildly. He had a second mouth, a massive one in the middle of his stomach.

I almost stumbled but I could feel myself healing as I forced myself to walk closer. Fuck, this hurt more than sword through my stomach.

The large demon grinned and looked at Dawn "Oh? Was she somebody to you? Know that she died, failing to save you." and he started towards me as he laughed.

"My name...Is Winter." I said, forcing myself to stand up straight.

I reached to my left side and gripped my left wrist, pulling down hard as I gritted my teeth against the pain as I pulled it straight so the healing could do the rest, biting back a scream of pain.

"My name is Winter and a entire world worship me as a god." I said, continuing my walk towards the large demon, my steps surer, steadier.

I didn't stumble this time and red mana start to lick up along my arms like flames. I didn't feel...anything. I was calm.

But my red mana responded faster and stronger than ever.


"I'm going to show you why."




AN// Many thanks to Cytokinesis for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

I dropped to my knees next to Dawn's body, just staring.

I was responsible for this. I had screwed up multiple times. I shouldn't have let her go here. I should not have let her come to this place. I should have trained her better.

I should not have tried to take out a major demon in close combat.

If I had simply blasted the demon from the start, she would still be alive.


Swallowing, I forced myself to look at her broken form. Both arms were clearly broken in multiple places. Her ribcage had...dents...in it. She wasn't breathing. I put my hand on her stomach, trying to heal her.

Nothing was happening.

I never figured out how to resurrect somebody. I know that White mana can technically do it, but I never was able to figure it out. I have tried it in the past.

My responsibility. I promised I would keep her safe.

I just felt empty.


I've had friends die on me before. Especially in The Others war. But this was different, it felt different.


Somebody touched my shoulder and I looked back to see Siviria backlit by the cocoon of still glowing but slowly cooling molten rock in the middle of the platform that covered what used to be a large demon.

"We need to go. We took out the immediate guards, but they got the alarm off. Reinforcements will be here in a few minutes." She said. Her armor was covered with blood, her blond hair matted with the red substance, clinging to her head. She had a wound on her left shoulder and one of her large daggers was missing.

I shook my head and turned back to Dawn "Let them come. I'm busy."

"Winter." somebody said and I frowned, glancing back again to see Garuk stand there next to the blood elf. He looked better than Siviria but then again, he went against Orcs, not a giant fucking demon.

"We should go. Pick the shaman up and let's move."

"She is dead." I said, turning away from him "I checked. She wont heal."

"A strong shaman is not dead until she stays dead. Give her a few moments to return to life, if the spirits are willing she might be able to. But she wont have those moments unless we move. Now, pick her up!" The large orc said before looking over his shoulder "Hurry!"

I stared at him for a moment before I stood up, lifting her with my mind. Resurrection...I forgot about that. She might still make it.

I just assumed that was game mechanics. Once more, I assumed things.

I so need to stop doing that!


"Kanyen?" I asked while looking around.

Garuk shook his head "Dead. Took an axe to the head... the best healer in the world can't heal that. His cat died avenging him."

Well, if I was there within seconds I might have been able to, but no promises about him being the same after, even then. It is too late now though.

"Do you have a plan?" I asked the orc.

Garuk nodded "We fight our way out."

"That's a horrible plan." I said flatly, looking at Dawn. Still nothing.

"Well, we are not doing that. We are flying out." I then added.

"If you failed to notice, we left our mounts a hours walk from the fortress." Siviria said as she glanced nervously back towards the portal leading out onto the platform where we were, fingering her remaining dagger.

There were sounds from there now. They were close.

I waved my hand, channeling a bit of red and blue mana, giving us all wings of fire. I gently picked Dawn up into my arms instead of floating her; I have never tried to lift something with my telekinesis before while flying.

Knowing my luck with floating myself, I'm not risking it.


"What is..." Siviria shivered before she looked back at her new wings, moving them "How did...what?"

"It's instinctive. Just fly." I said, spreading my wings and taking to the air in the direction of Thrallmar and where we left the windriders.

I looked back, seeing the other two take to the air behind me as red skinned orcs stormed onto the platform.

Turning forward I beat my wings again.


Moments later Dawn twitched in my arms, gasping for air, her breath rasping. I looked down, channeling black mana. Her soul was clinging to her body...she was there. Switching to blue I could see her magic working to try to heal her body.

It was too slow. She would die again from her wounds.

Yeah, that's not happening.

"Sorry Dawnie, I promised I would ask first but this is kind of needed." I said and then I absolutely flooded her with every ounce of white and green mana I had left in the strongest healing spell I ever tried.

Her ribs and bones crackled and crackled as she started to quickly heal "Come on, Dawnie. You can do this."

Minutes later she opened her eyes "W-winter..."

"Dawn..you are back. I thought I lost you..."I breathed, holding her tighter. I did not want to drop her now.

She closed her eyes again, passing out.

I quickly flickered between blue and black mana again. Her soul was still there, no active magic. She was just exhausted.

I started the glide down towards where we left the windriders as I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Dawn was alive.

Dawn would be fine.


I flapped my wings one last time before I landed, gently putting her down on the red rocky ground, taking off my cloak and folding it up, putting it beneath her head like a pillow.

As I heard the other two land behind me I waved my hand, canceling the enchantment.

Garuk looked behind himself as the wings disappeared "Summers is alive?" He asked as he spotted Dawn.

I nodded "She is. She came back during the flight and I finished the healing."


Siviria shivered as the wings faded away "That's some magic..."

I nodded "Quite useful."

Garuk growled "If you could throw that kind of magic around, we could have fought our way up! We could have killed the reinforcements on our way up. Kanyen might have made it out of there!"

"And in doing so I would have alerted every orc in the fortress and would have been out of mana by the time we got up there. Anything I have that is mana efficient takes too much room to be used indoors." I answered him as I sat down, leaning my back against a large rock "It was a stealth mission and I suck at illusions."

"I heard what you said to that demon." Siviria said "Was any of it it true?"

"Don't be silly. It was a intimidation tactic." I said as I shook my head, gently brushing Dawn's hair from her face.

A entire world didn't worship me like a god, not even everyone on the Westeros did. Hell, there were even people in King's Landing that had not converted by the time I left. Not many, granted, but there were some holdouts. All the power to them.

I estimate that not even a third of the total population had joined that ridiculous religion yet.


Siviria moved to sit down next to me "Mind healing my wound?" she asked and I blinked. She seemed friendly all of a sudden. None of that 'I am superior' attitude any more.

Interesting.

Some of my white and green mana had regenerated by now. Not much, but enough for a cut.


I nodded "Sure." and put my hand on her arm, healing the cut easily enough.

Siviria shuddered as I healed her "Mmmm...thank you." She breathed happily before she leaned back against the red rock behind her.

I stared at her for a moment before I simply shook my head and stroked Dawns hair softly.

Bloody great.

Now I am Blood Elf catnip.




AN// Many thanks to Cytokinesis for betaing this one.

 

[Hiver]

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the red rock outside Thrallamar with a small frown.

We had gotten back from the raid almost thirty hours before. Dawn had yet to wake up; Cloudsong was examining her.

He was the expert at this sort of resurrection.


As much as I wanted to...I could not blame him for allowing Dawn to go on the raid. She was his apprentice and she was bound on her honor to do as he said.

If he told her that she was not ready, that she could not go…

She would have not gone.


But I could not blame him. I could have stopped her as well. In several ways.


I sighed softly, looking out into the distance towards the massive wall of the Hellfire Citadel. At least the raid was successful. Somewhat.

We did not manage to get the last of the three targets, but we disrupted them enough. Horde and Alliance forces attacked the fortress as soon as we reported back on our success.

They were still fighting, but they had the Legion forces pushed back hard into the lower chambers.

Going in to dig them out would be tricky, but there was no way they would be able to crawl out of their little hole.

We had them bottled up. With the bottlenecks of those narrow corridors, a small garrison would be able to hold them back indefinitely.


They estimated that we would be able to push on past the Citadel before the week was over.


I was just about to turn to go back to the tent to check on Dawn when I saw something moving on the horizon.

Freezing I frowned before I reached into my satchel and pulled out a pair of binoculars. I eyed them for a moment. Cheap and easily made with my omnitool. Need to remember to pick up a proper pair next time I pop by Sunnydale.

Or Zombie central I guess.

I raised it to my eyes and took a good look at whatever it was that was moving out in the wastes.

Holy crap...

A large humanoid shape, black and green, trailing smoke was moving across the red rock.

That's a fucking Fel Reaver!


I carefully put my binoculars away before going to find a guard. I was just outside camp after all.


"Did you know there is a large magical construct wandering around the peninsula?" I asked the first warrior I saw.

The blue troll frowned, looking at me in surprise before he nodded "Yeah, mon. Fel Reaver...it wander around, following the same path day in and day out. As long as you don't end up in its path, it leave you alone. Not worth the manpower to try to take it down, or so do the Sergeant say."

"I see. Thanks." I said, giving him a nod before continuing towards my tent.

Fel Reaver...that's a magical construct. Apparently not thinking if it simply followed the same path, but it looked like it was smart enough to follow orders.

What I wouldn't give to get my hands on that thing, find out how it worked. Even if I could not copy it, hell even if I could only figure out how a tenth of it worked...

Yeah, that would greatly increase my understanding of magic, never mind my currently non-existent artificing ability.

But that would mean going up against a bloody fel reaver. I remembered how hard that thing always stomped my ass in game.

Yeah, maybe later.

As it was, I had plenty of power, more than twice as much as when I fought against Mary but my actual skill was rather basic. I really needed to work on that.


There are only so many problems that can be solved by throwing more power at them. There really should be some books on magic I can pick up. I need to remember to check that next time I get the opportunity to go to a major town.

Even if the skills didn't line up perfectly, it would give me some ideas on how to do things and if I remembered right Warcraft mages could do some nice stuff.


I pushed the tent flap to the side and walked into our tent to find Cloudsong standing by Dawn's bedroll. Until she woke up, it replaced her hammock. Having her fall out of it would not have been good.

"How is she doing?" I asked the large Tauren as I stopped just inside the tent.

Cloudsong looked back at me before turning to face me "I have seen this thing before. Her spirit suffered greatly as she clung to life. She...was not ready. Not for something like that."

"No. She wasn't." I simply said as I walked over, looking down at her "Will she wake up?"

The Tauren nodded "Yes. She made it back to her body. She will survive, Sunrise should wake up within a day."

"You allowed her to go." I said, crossing my arms, looking down at the sleeping girl. I tried hard not to accuse him.

"I did. She was ready for that. Just not for this." Cloudsong answered, sighing "Sunrise is stubborn. She had already made up her mind. You know as well as I do that I could not have stopped her any more than her namesake. I thought her skills were strong enough for what she set out to do."

I felt like slugging him.

But in the end it was her choice...and he was right about the stubbornness.

It ran in the family.


Cloudsong nodded and put his large hand on my shoulder before he left "I will leave you with your woman." he said before he walked out.

I simply nodded, deep in thought as I frowned slightly.
Dawn need to learn how to use mana from Lands, but she can't learn it in Outlands. This place is crumbling and I don't know why.

In a couple of hundred years it will be gone completely, the plane itself is slowly collapsing. Hell, I wouldn't want to try to claim these lands, who know what connecting to something like this do to you?

Perhaps I could convince her to go back through the portal, maybe fly over to Westfall. That should count as a White land; give her access to shield spells.

Might not be the worst idea in the world...


I suddenly blinked and looked back at the closed tent flap as his words filtered into my head. "My what!?"




AN// Many thanks to LockedKeye for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

"Hey...Hey! wake up." Somebody said and I forced my eyes open, sitting up.

"I'm awake..I'm awake." I grumbled and then blinked at the sight of Dawn laying on her bedroll with a small smile "Sorry. I was waiting for you to wake up. I must have fallen asleep..."

Dawn smiled slightly and then sighed "Thanks..." She collapsed back against her pillow "How long was I..."

"A bit more than three days. How do you feel?" I asked, looking around for the water bottle. The light in the tent was much dimmer than normal so it must be what passes for night here.

"Tired...thirsty. What happened? The last thing I remember is..." She started and then she frowned "The demon was reaching for me."

I grimaced and then nodded, handing over the water bottle "Here, water. Take it slow..."

She took the bottle and sipped at the water, taking a deep swallow before putting it down "So what happened?"

Oh bloody hell. I was never good at this stuff.

I was silent for a moment before I shook my head "He got a hold of you and hurt you badly. The demon...he actually killed you. He paid for it though. I killed him."

Dawn stared at me "I...died?" she asked after a couple of moments.

Sighing, I nodded "Just temporarily. The spirits helped you back to your body...as soon as you were back, I could heal you."

"Master Cloudsong, he said that that kind of thing might happen, that some shamans have done that. I never thought I could..." she started as she took a deep breath, visibly trying to stay calm.

I frowned and then sighed "Dawnie...I'm sorry. It was my fault you got hurt, If I had simply blasted the bastard from the start and not underestimated him, I would not have been hurt and you would not have needed to save my stupid arse."

She looked at the tent ceiling for a moment before she shook her head, turning to look at me "It wasn't your fault. You thought you could take him silently, and we needed to stay hidden. You did all you could."

I grimaced and shook my head "What I did, was forget the most important lesson there is to learn." I said as I picked up the water bottle and sealed it again after quickly refilling it.

Dawn frowned "What's that?"

I smiled slightly "There is always a bigger fish. Now get some sleep, we can talk more tomorrow."

She yawned and nodded, rolling over.

It took only moments before she was back asleep.


I yawned and got up from ground. I had stretched out on the ground to rest my eyes while waiting for her to wake up, wanting to stay closer than my hammock in case there was a problem. Falling asleep on the ground might not have been the best idea though.

Relocating to my hammock I laid back down, soon following Dawn's example and falling asleep.



XXXXXXXXXXXXXX


The next morning I was standing outside our tent, looking around Thrallmar.

Dawn was off with Cloudsong, probably talking about her resurrection.

I frowned slightly at that thought.

Now I really need to keep her away from non magical primitive worlds. She can heal, walk on water, and now returns from the dead.

Luckily it was mages that conjured food, not shamans.

Speaking of mages though...


I frowned and then started to make my way up the hill towards the tower where the mages and similar lurk, doing their experiments and such.

Perhaps I could pick up some books on basic magical theory. Even if they are for a completely different magical systems, not needing to make essentially everything up on your own would greatly increase my ability to learn new spells.

Warcraft mages can do some really nice things, their ability to throw fire and ice being the least of them.

I'm not sure how the ability to conjure food would translate into a mana spell. Mana doesn't really do 'real' constructs very well. They stay made up of mana.

I could in theory conjure food, but that would be a bad idea.


But mages here have other nice tricks. Spell steal, counter spell, blink, teleportation, portal creation. Invisibility.

Even if these things don't translate directly to my kind of magic, having some idea about where to start with it would greatly help me figure out how to do things.

I stopped by the...rather tiny gate of the stone and wood tower. I had not been up here before and I actually expected a larger gate.

Huh, maybe they're not feeling the need to show off.


Glancing around I then knocked on the gate. There was a long moment and silence before I was about to knock on it again when it opened, revealing a undead...I'm guessing man..wearing a robe, his lower jaw was missing, his tongue hanging straight down.

I'll tell you, we didn't see many undead at thunderbluff and the very few that traveled through tended to be more 'well kept'.

On the trip, we didn't see any and there were none traveling on the caravan. After all, their city was on the right continent already.

The look of this thing...ick.

"Yes?" the undead being hissed, his voice remarkably clear for not having a lower jaw.

I cleared my throat, suddenly very happy that they don't smell like they look "Yes, I'm wondering if you could possibly have some books on basic magical theory for sale? I'm interested in furthering my education."

The undead being narrowed his eyes at me "Shouldn't bother! Low potential in you! Start swinging a axe around like the other barbarians."

I blinked at that before I responded "Does that mean you won't sell to me?"

He snarled "Ten gold!" and then slammed the door shut, leaving me staring at the solid oak(or something like it) door.

Oookay..

A couple of moments later the door was jerked open again and I had two books basically pushed against my chest, a rotten looking hand waving in my face "Gold!"

Taking a step back I quickly dug ten small gold coins from my satchel and handed them over, and then he forced me to catch the books as he simply dropped them.

"Go away!" he snarled and slammed the door in front of me again.


I picked the books up and started to make my way down the hill, feeling both amused and confused. That was one of the stranger experiences I have had so far, and considering my life up to this point...




AN// Big thanks to Cytokinesis for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

I opened my eyes, staring up at the dimly lit up fabric of the tent.

It was still what passes for night in this place. It never did get completely dark, darkest it got was about twice the light of a full moon.

Why did I wake up though? What woke me?

A couple of soft noises from the other side of the tent quickly clued me in. Dawn was having another nightmare. This was the third night after she woke up...she had had several nightmares a night since then.

First time it woke me up, in my tiredness I first thought it was sounds of a different nature, but it only took moments before I figured out what it really was.


I sighed softly and glanced across the dark tent. Every night since she woke up from her exhausted sleep. Several times a night.

She had started to look tired during the day...I needed to do something about this.

I did talk to her about it and she says she doesn't remember her nightmares. Not sure if I believe her about that..

Not that I don't have my share of nightmares. Seeing her crushed and tossed to the side like a empty sodacan just added to the pile among favorites like shooting Mary in the face or fighting Husks...or Whitewalkers. The list is long though so at least I have variation.

And not like they show up every night like for Dawn. Hell, not even every week...and my nightmares never seem to be as intense as hers are.

There was a small gasp from the other side of the tent and and she then went quiet as she woke up, sitting up on her bedroll. She had yet to switch back to her hammock, likely a smart move as she move around a lot in her sleep now.
Moments later she slowly laid back down as I pretended to be asleep.

Letting her know that she woke me up would simply make her feel worse.

She had been trying to pretend like there was nothing serious going on. Bloody Summers...she is more like her sister than she like to admit.

While Buffy has not gone through anything similar in this timeline, in the original one she reacted in a similar way.

I will not let Dawnie go the way Buffy did in that timeline.

Which means...


I frowned up into the dark as I could hear her breathing start to even out again as she went back asleep.


Getting her to talk to a Psychiatrist would be ideal, hell, I likely needed my brain shrunk a bit as well after all the shit I had seen. Wouldn't hurt.

Sadly, I simply did not see a way to make it happen. Even if we went back to her home Plane and located one that knew about the darker side of the world...going back and forth just for that kind of thing?

Walking twice in a day is exhausting for me and I have done it for a while. While it would not kill Dawn, it would most likely knock her out. Returning from the Zombie world a couple of hours after we arrived did after all.

Not practical.

One alternative would be to Walk out to Sunnydale, find a Psychiatrist and copy his essence. Would work and be more practical to do, but there was no way in hell I'll do it. That just has 'You Monster' written all over it.


I frowned and then slipped out of my hammock, trying to stay as quiet as I could as I pulled my boots on before I put a shirt on and carefully snuck out of the tent.

I needed some air.

Cracking my neck I made my way halfway up the hill to the make-shift tower before I sat down, looking out over the military camp. Even in the middle of the night, there were a good number of people running around.

We were to move out tomorrow to start to press forward past The Citadel and into the marsh. I did not look forward to that.

I sighed softly and laid back to look up at the streams of energy in the skies, the large spheres hanging there, far away.

Best alternative right now, would likely be to get Dawn away from the frontlines, let her catch her breath. Let her recover, regain her footing.

No, the best alternative for her would be to get her to go home. She needed her family...but I already knew she would refuse to.

Fucking time difference. If it was one to one I might have talked her into popping home for a couple of months!


Cloudsong I should be able to talk into letting her get some time away from the frontlines and as his apprentice, she should in theory do as he says.

But then again, it is Dawn, so who knows. If I'm lucky I might be able to talk her into going home for a couple of weeks for a visit. It would take at least half a year here to stay there for two weeks.

Maybe it would be better to get her to go back through the portal and we can travel to the human lands.

Honestly, a couple of weeks, months in Goldshire or a place like that should help. There is a reason why soldiers are sent back home with regular intervals.

I grimaced slightly as I sat up once more. I need to discuss the subject with Cloudsong in the morning. He should also have noticed Dawn was having problems.

He cares about her...or he would not have agreed to teach her in the first place. If I got him on my side in this, we should be able to talk Dawn into going.


Sighing I got back onto my feet. I have to get some more sleep.






AN// It is thanks to Dimensionist that this part is betaed.

 

[Hiver]

"You did what!?" Dawn exclaimed as she stared at me wide-eyed. We were in the tent, packing up our stuff.

"I talked to Cloudsong and he and I are in agreement. You need time away from all this." I said as I glanced around the tent. Did I have something more I wanted to pack in my bag instead of one of the footlockers?

"I-I don't. I'm fine." Dawn said, shaking her head "I just have some nightmares, I don't even remember them!"

How do I handle this?

I frowned and leaned against one of the support struts "Dawn..The longest you've slept since you woke up from getting back has been three hours. In total, you get maybe five hours a night."

"I have some nightmares, that's not strange after this kind of thing!" She said, folding up a blanket, not looking at me.

"It is." I said, nodding "But you need time away from the stress to work through it or you might develop significant problems. That was your first real combat situation other than being attacked by pigmen... and that was a very short moment that ended in a good way. This didn't.

Dawn turned to me "I'll be fine. I don't see you breaking down, you were there as well. You were hurt too." she said, still not meeting my eyes.

I was silent for a moment, considering that. Honestly, me getting hurt there did not even factor into my own nightmares about that event. It was just one more obstacle keeping me from saving her, and in my nightmares she didn't come back.

"I have a good amount more experience, Dawn. I have been fighting one way or another since I arrived in Sunnydale, but there was always moments of peace, times to recover. You need time to work through what you experienced." I finally said "I could likely use some time away as well, but I can't leave you alone here."

Dawn sighed and sat down on a chair by the small table, folding her arms on the table and resting her head on them "Master Cloudsong said I should leave?"

I moved to sit down on the other chair, sighing "He said that he thought it would be good if you got some time to work this through."

She gave me a small weak glare before then lowered her head again as she sighed "Well, it looks like I am outnumbered."

Oh thank the Blind Eternities. She relented. Only other weapon I had left would have been 'What if you are healing somebody and make a mistake because you were unable to sleep'. I really did not want to need to use that one. It was kind of a cruel one. While still still a concern with magical healing, it is not as much of one as with normal medicine. Still, fucking up is bad no matter what you do. You might heal a bone in the wrong position or something.

"I was thinking you could pick. There are some alternatives." I said as I leaned back in my chair "Either we go traveling around the human territories. Places that are as safe as things get here. I could teach you to pick up a land or two if you want."

Dawn sighed and then sat up, leaning back in her seat as she looked over at me "That don't sound too bad. What was the alternative?"

"I could take you home for a while." I answered her "It would not be long due to the time difference, just a couple of weeks. But you would get to see your friends and family."

She went silent for a moment, closing her eyes before she sighed "A couple of weeks... with the time difference, wouldn't that be like six months here?"

I nodded "It would. It would also require traveling back here from The Barrens where we will be ending up when we Walk back here. Say, eight months in total as I really want you to pick up a land before we come back no matter which option you pick."

"Eight months." She said and then shook her head "It would be... wonderful to see everyone again, but I can't be gone that long."

"You can." I answered "I have already cleared it with Cloudsong. He want to talk to you before you decide though."

She frowned "But what about the warriors that get hurt? More might die while I am away that long."

"You are not the only healer, there are a hundred healers just in this army." I said before I shook my head "I'm not saying you are not skilled, but you 'are' just an apprentice. Trust me, they can cover for both you and me."

Honestly, their kind of healing was more efficient than what I did. I did have the power to more than compensate for it though. Would be real interesting what Dawn could do if we got access to white or green mana. She really was a talented healer.

Dawn hesitated, licking her lips before she swallow and stood up "I-I'm going to go talk with Master Cloudsong."

I nodded slowly, getting up as well "Do that. I'll be here when you come back."

She nodded and gave me a quick hug before turning to leave the tent.

I looked at her for a long moment before I sighed and turned to do a final check of my backpack before I sat back down and pulled out my M-6 and the small toolkit. Might as well give it a once over while I wait.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what I wanted her to pick. Traveling Azeroth's safer lands would be good for her. She could pick up a land or two, see the sights. She would get more relaxing time like that.

But if she went back home, well, there would be less time, but she would get to see her family. That might make up for a lot of the time lost.

I shook my head and carefully unscrewed the block of metal that was the ammo of the massdriver weapon, giving it a look over. I should replace this when I get some high quality steel to feed my omnitool.

In the end though, what she picked was her choice.




AN// Many thanks to Robo Jesus for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

I closed my eyes and took a slow breath before I slowly raised my left hand, channeling my blue mana in a precise spell matrix.

This should work. In theory. It was a first draft of a spell prototype based on some of the writing in one of the theory books I bought.

Opening my eyes I gave Dawn a nod "Ready."

Dawn gave me an unsure look as she frowned "Are you sure about this? You could get hurt."

I shook my head "Not seriously. This armor, combined with you putting low amounts of magic into the spell, means I should survive even a full on hit with minor damage, at worst. Besides, anything that doesn't kill me instantly I can heal. Go on."

She looked dubious for a second before she nodded and raised her right hand, blue light started to crackle around it.

Dawn bit her lower lip slightly and then pointed her hand at me, shooting a ball of lightning straight at me.

It flashed between us, but I stood my ground, simply keeping my left hand pointed in her direction.

The ball of lightning diverted from its course towards my chest, heading instead straight for my left hand.

Then there was pain as the blue light smacked into my hand, sizzling across my skin, making me let out a grunt in pain.

Son of a...!

"Winter!" Dawn cried out and rushed over, taking my hand "Sorry! Are you ok?" She asked as she looked it over.

I took a look at my hand as she started to heal it. It was red and in spots the skin had darkened.

"Yeah..." I said, trying to flex it. It was half numb "I'll be fine. Half the spell worked, it did divert the lightening. Now I just need to get the spell disruption mechanism right."

"Are you saying we are going to do this again!?" She said, giving me a small glare as she finished healing my hand.

I gave her a smile, flexing my hand. As good as new. "Of course. This isn't a spell I can figure out on my own, I need something cast on me... though nothing more for today though. I need to go back and see what I might have done wrong."

It didn't help that the books was written in Orcish and was for a different magic system than my own. I might speak it, even if my accent was not perfect, but I can't read it. Luckily my omnitool did and could translate, hopefully accurately enough.

Want to get a point-blank counterspell working first, and then I'll try to get a ranged version working so I didn't need to attract the spell TO me in order to cancel it out.

Dawn looked unhappy but nodded "I guess. Just... try to make the next one work, ok?"

I nodded "I'll try. I'd rather not repeat that." I answered with a smile, shaking my hand "Anyway, just wanted to give that a try before we get back on the road. Ready to head out again?" I asked.

She nodded "Almost, Just want to make sure Mr Fluffsy have what he need first." and turned walk over to tend to her Kodo.

Sighing I shook my head. Note to self, don't let Dawn name anything else, ever again. I turned to look out over the overgrown swamp stretching out beneath us. We stopped for camp last night just at the edge of The Blaster Lands at the border of Swamp of Sorrows.

After her talk with Cloudsong, Dawn finally decided to stay on this Plane. I didn't necessarily agree if that was the right choice, but it was her choice to make.

In truth, there was some things I hoped to get done in Sunnydale while if we where to visit, but, oh well. At least this way Dawnie would be able to pick up a couple of lands and I better access to finding more magic lore and knowledge.

I might have the power, but I don't have the skill to pull off something really advanced yet. I have some things in my magical repertoire, but it was mostly through trial and error that I managed those.

I looked over at Dawn. She was smiling and feeding the Kodo water from a bucket. Even just getting away from the front looked like it lifted a weight off of her.

Until now I didn't realize she had not smiled like that since the attack on the fortress. I had missed it.

"Ready?" I asked as I picked up our packs and walked over to strap them to the side of the Kodo.
She nodded and shook the last drops of water from the bucket and moved to strap that in place as well "Yeah. I just don't want to go through the Swamp again." she said with a sigh.

"You know, we could still fly." I commented with a raised eyebrow.

Dawn frowned at me "Figured out a way to bring Mr Fluffsy with us?"

I just sighed and shook my head "No, sorry.".


While the firewings spell would 'work' on a Kodo, it had the same problem as when using it on any other non summon, non sophont.

They still feared fire and tried to run away from their new wings.

That usually ended with lots of screaming, running, things being set on fire...

Grey Wind never did want to get close to me again after that little experience.


Which meant that we were riding for the next month or so until we get to Westfall.

Dawn smiled and climbed onto the Kodo "Then we ride there."

I sighed and nodded, climbing up onto the saddle behind her. I could have summoned a horse and rode next to them instead of hitching a ride, but it was much easier to talk if we shared a mount.

Not like the Kodo wasn't used to carry us both anyway.




AN// Big thanks to Robo Jesus for betaing this part.