Fur and Fire (RWBY/Warcraft)
- Thread starter ThatOnePsycho
- Start date
- Crossover
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Association fallacy. Odyn is technically signing your checks in Legion (or, at the very least letting you crash at his joint), he also likes honor and glory and did some shady shit. Therefore, you have to like honor and glory and be fine with doing shaddy shit (As an aside, Varian was supposed to go to Skyhold in the Legion alpha, alongside thirty-odd warrior characters from half the Azeroth races, but Blizzard eventually decided it took away from the image of Skyhold as a Vykrul place and cut them). That you might be working with him because, you know, he's offering an army of the greatest (Vykrul) warriors and Titanforged to help with the army of demons spilling out of the Tomb of Sargares isn't a viable answer, apparently. It's the equivalent of saying 'Sargares is a Titan, Sargares also cut a planet in two, therefore every Titan goes around cutting planets in two'. Or 'Illidan is the leader of the Demon Hunters, Illidan also worked with the Legion, ergo Demon Hunters work with the Legion' (ignoring, of course, that there are Demon Hunters that don't agree with Illidan)
I get the same thing with Ruby and Rehgar over on SB. Rehgar owned a slave who was essentially free to leave at any time. Ruby learned from Rehgar. Therefore Ruby is a massive hypocrite who is fine with slavery. Completely ignoring that Ruby leaves as soon as it would be feasible to when Rehgar (and Bloodeye) buy a pair of slaves, and that the first thing we see her doing in the present is refusing to talk to Rehgar.
The Council of the Black Harvest is made up of warlocks. They do a bunch of shady shit over their quests, up to brainwashing and enslaving the Eredar sisters so they'll cure one of the Black Harvest members. Their artifacts are only tied with with DK's for menece, being a soul eating scythe, the Scepter of Sargares, and the gilded (and still alive) skull of the first Eredar demon summoner. They're also a force for good (normally). Many of them fought against a world destroying threat at some point. Shinfel fought against Cho'Gall and had her blood corrupted, making her live in pain. Ritssyn was scarred by Ragnaros's flames, Zinnin was there when Deathwing died, and Kanrethad fought Illidan at the Black Temple.
The Warrior's quests are much less ambiguously heroic (and their artifacts, while not important in this case, much less shady. The sword of the first king of man, a pair of swords forged for Odyn's champion and stolen by Helya, and scale of Deathwing). Their quest chain consists of them looking for the Gjallarhorn to call the Ulduar Titainforged, going to Ulduar (again) when they don't show up, and then assaulting Niskara to save Hodir.
Most of the Odyn stuff mentioned as a reason for Yang not being able to be a warrior is class netural (and beyond that, like Ruby acknowledges about the Elements, if Odyn wants something particularly shady done he'll go get Bloodeye or someone else who doesn't have such strong morals to do it.). Everyone jumps through the hoops to get the Aegis, none of which are heinous crimes, you fight other people wanting to take the trials, fight with the spirits of Vykrul kings to gain their backing, prove yourself before the Queen of the Valkyra and Thorignir Storm Drakes (here I will admit Odyn is being outright and unambiguously hypocritical. He broke off from the other Titanforged and formed the Valajar in protest of the creation of the Dragonflights). Odyn, in fact, directly points you towards work arounds as Sovald actively cheats his way through the tests and tries to destroy them so no one else can do them.
Everyone deals with Helya because she's making herself that much of a problem. She makes tries her damndest to screw you over once you get stuck in Helheim as part of the Stormheim questing, once you play her games to be freed she tries to outright renege on her promise to release you. She is keeping aforementioned army of Vykrul trapped in the Halls of Valor, corrupting those who get out anyway, and judging by the fact that she has Illidan's soul when he should have been in the Twisting Nether, signed on with the Legion.
Just don't force me to do something I don't want to do.
I'm fine with criticisms and I'm fine with people giving suggestions. As I said, Yang and Weiss weren't going to be in this fic at all to start. That's why they don't show up until chapter 3. But things like 'Ruby should have easily killed a group that killed a god while injured' 'she should have easily broken free', or, 'X character should be Y class and whatever plans you have are dumb' aren't really the sort of complaints that can be fixed without rewriting the whole story.
Making leaps of logic that don't actually make much sense is a good way to rile me up. Where's Blake's mentor? Valeera? Blake's been doing the sneak-shank game since before Valeera picked up a dagger for the first time. We've yet to see another rogue in the entire fic. Weiss's mentor isn't someone to be envied either.
Maybe people will enjoy my plans with Xia. Maybe they won't. I think it's clever, as I've already dropped some hints on who she is in the story and we haven't even met her yet. But until that point, nobody can really know, eh?
Last edited:
Any credibility to any argument or criticism you could make: Gone! How does he do it? We just don't know.
- Location
- Saof Afreekah
Okaaaaay... Why are people harassing OP and assuming they can dictate what he writes? If all you chimps flinging crap and losing your minds hate what @ThatOnePsycho is doing so much, write your own damn stories, and MOVE ON! All this aggression and posturing is frankly just irritating everyone on the thread.
Tl;dr Grow up, people!
PS, @ThatOnePsycho I'm still enjoying the fic, and am willing to follow it where you lead
Tl;dr Grow up, people!
PS, @ThatOnePsycho I'm still enjoying the fic, and am willing to follow it where you lead
Stop: Greetings
- Location
- Britain
greetings
@Lyxi you have repeatedly posted long, meandering rants in this thread solely to attack the author and their work. While SV is not a safe space and people are welcome to criticise works, that stops being okay when it descends into personal attacks against the author. Calling someone a moron who doesn't have the intelligence to write a fic is unacceptable under SV's Rule 3 and I am issuing you with a permanent threadban and 25 points for your trouble.
Chapter 6
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Rehgar stepped into the tent, walking towards the small group of shaman seated around a table. Sliding into the chair, he waited for Zur'ak to finish downing a bottle of liquid.
"Is this really the time to be drinking?" he asked.
"Not alcohol," Zur'ak threw the bottle over his shoulder, "just water. Ya wouldn't believe how bad what we got in Silithus tastes. Da beer's actually better."
"Right. Where's your weapon?" the witch doctor wasn't known to go without his eponymous 'Firefist'.
"With ya student. It broke fightin' da damn bugs, and she offered to fix it. She a good smith?"
"Yes. She doesn't do it often, but I've never met someone who can make weapons attuned to the elements like she can."
Most shaman weren't smiths anymore, only those who had clung to the old ways from the Crossing to now. It was a borderline forgotten art amongst the orcs, at least. Mass production was easier, better to have a hundred guards with axes and blades that were all the same then it was to have twenty with weapons that could become legendary through infusion of the elements.
"High praise," Stormsong said, "I need to ask, have you ever thought of giving her the test?"
"Of course I have. Wanted to wait another year or so though, she's only just hit her third year as my apprentice. Why?"
"She said you hadn't told her to go down to Silithus, and that the elements gave her a vision to do so."
Zur'ak snorted, "She's mad. Hardly anyone get's visions that early. Ya sent her a letter, righ-"
"I tried," Rehgar said, clenching his fist under the table to keep from socking Zur'ak. Why did people keep insulting his kids, dammit? "But I didn't know where she was, and neither did Drek'thar."
"I think she's telling the truth," Stormsong said, "the elements wanted as many shaman as possible at Silithus. I get the feeling-"
"She's too noble for her own good?" Rehgar finished, "She grew up planning to be some sort of hero. It's not surprising she would jump at the chance."
"I'm still not sure we can trust that human girl with her," Stormsong said.
"There's a human girl?" Rehgar's head snapped towards Stormsong, "what's she look like?"
"I don't know. A normal human?" Stormsong said, "black hair, golden eyes. Wears a bow?"
"So she did find her," Rehgar said under his breath. Good for Ruby, "you can trust her."
"You know her?"
"Yes," Rehgar lied without batting an eye. It would be easier on everyone if there weren't Horde constantly sniffing around Ruby and, by proxy, Rehgar, "she's a very skilled fighter. They're great together."
"Ya sure?"
"Yes," Rehgar repeated, "do you think I should give her the test, Stormsong? How long did you stay as Magatha's apprentice?"
"A little under a year," Stormsong shrugged, "it wasn't that hard. I haven't ever seen anyone fail it."
"Failin' ain't da problem," Zur'ak said, "it's what happens if you can't handle what comes after. It's ya choice, Rehgar. Do ya think she's ready for it? I know ya, if she ain't, ya won't pretend she is."
"I think she is. Can you tell her I need her in Orgrimmar when she gives you back your weapon? And to bring Blake. How's things down in Silithus? That's what this is supposed to be about."
"I wanna punch da druids right between da eyes. 'We be promotin' nature' dey say, as dey try ta turn de desert into a forest. Dat ain't natural, dey don't seem to get it."
"He's been complaining about this for days," Stormsong said to Rehgar, "it's practically turned to a war every time more Silithids show up."
"We keep showin' dem! Destroyin' da anubisath before dey get a chance."
"Zur'ak!" everyone wheeled around as Drek'thar walked in, "good, I was worried we had missed you."
"Wit what?"
"A letter got through from Lady Proudmoore," Drek'thar turned his head to Rehgar, "I'd forgotten how much of a hassle it is to get that done without Ruby. This should have arrived four days ago."
"What?"
"The Kirin Tor is sending a group of mages to Silithus. We thought you would like to know about it in advance."
"When dey gettin' dere?"
"In a day or two," Drek'thar said, "they're still finalizing how many to send. Or, they were when the letter was sent."
---
"Father Brightgrave?"
Gallus looked up from where he was packing a small bag. Rosaries, Librams, a pair of robes, some supplies for stitching up any lost limbs.
"Crocbait," he said, "Yes, you had asked to speak with me, hadn't you?"
"Yes, Father."
"Well," Gallus stood, "I need to leave soon, but I can make a bit of time for you. What is it you need, child?" As the human stepped into Gallus's modest holdings, Gallus gestured to the nicer of the two chairs with his Light hand, "Sit."
"Are you sure-?"
"Sit," Gallus repeated, "the time for me to enjoy such trappings has long past. Sit."
Even in his mortal life, Bishop Gallus Carlyle had been sparse in his livings. While other bishops had lived in opulent apartments in Lordaeron and Stormwind, Gallus had stayed in a small parish in eastern Lordaeron.
"Now," Gallus sat in the other chair, lacing his fingers on his lap and ignoring his rosary, "What is it you need?"
"I- I had some questions for you," Crocbait shifted in his chair, "Do you remember when we met? You said you had friends that could heal mind injuries, right?"
"Yes," though Gallus would be hard pressed to call them friends. Those who had turned from the Light completely, allowing the Shadows to swallow them whole. It was a sentiment each of the few who became Watchers, those who stood at the threshold, held.
"Do you think I could meet with them?" Crocbait said, "I want to know. Who I am, why I'm here."
"I understand," Gallus said, "many undead awoke to a similar state. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing preparations for battle, my colleagues have left Orgrimmar for the south."
"Oh."
"But I will mention it to them when I get there. Once this threat is dealt with, we will return and get it sorted out. What else did you need, child?"
"What do you know about Paladins?"
"Ah," Gallus blinked the one eye that still had an eyelid. Back when Alonsus had suggested the idea of warrior priests, Gallus had been venomously against it. Too many ways it could go wrong, he had said.
Between Arthas and the Scarlet Crusade, he believed that he had been thoroughly vindicated. They had been useful in the war, but should have been dismantled after.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"Well, best to leave that train of thought behind you. Many of the Horde despise the knights. Too much shed blood," even the new 'Blood Knights' were barely tolerated.
"Yes, Father," Crocbait looked like a scolded child, sinking into his chair.
"Was there anything else you needed?
"Do you have any tomes I could read? I… find it peaceful here. Like a wolf trying to eat me is forced back. I hope I can carry that beyond here."
"Yes," Gallus stood from his spot, walking to the books he kept, "I can lend you one, if that's what you want?"
"It is."
"Mh," Gallus picked up a particularly old tome, passing it from one hand to the other, "this one should do. The Libram of Tenacity. It was my first Libram, back when I was little more than a aspirant."
Crocbait took the tome, bowing his head, "Thank you."
"I don't need your thanks, child. This is my duty. Was there anything else?"
"No."
"Well then," Gallus grabbed his staff in his Light hand, feeling the blackened skin burn further, "I must be off."
"Yes. I'll see you when you return."
---
Blake drew Gambol Shroud as she looked around the cave, sliding behind Ruby, "I didn't expect Orgrimmar to be so… dark."
"The Cleft of Shadow," Ruby explained quietly, "home to warlocks and thieves, it's also the easiest part of the city to get portals opened."
"Why?"
"Guards don't patrol down here much, since it's a hive of scum and villainy."
"You stole that from a movie."
"Yeah," Ruby let something fall into her hand. Blake squinted at it… was that a chain? "It fits. Come on, I don't want to spend too long down here."
They'd been walking through the cleft for ten minutes when the thief started to tail them. Blake glanced behind them, "Ruby, there's someone following us."
Ruby pointed at a brazier, embers sitting in it, "Reth."
The embers exploded into roaring flames, causing the thief to stop, before breaking off. Ruby waved her hand, putting out the fire.
"What did you say?"
"'Burn' in Kalimag. It doesn't really matter, all we needed was something to make him realize he was going to try and jump a spell caster. We're almost out."
Blake looked around the city as they stepped out of the cave, feeling her eyes contract as they did. She had heard that Orgrimmar was built into a canyon, and that had always projected an image of wonder.
The reality was a lot more ramshackled. Metal walkways were built along the walls, doors built over the caves. The building on the ground were slightly better, but still had sections made from sheets of metal.
"Huh," Blake said, "You'd think somewhere that put so much importance on shamanism would be more… natural," Ruby opened her mouth, "I know. I know. But the Alliance spends a lot of time talking about how far behind the Horde is. It's just posturing, I guess."
"Yeah. Come on, Rehgar's house is in the Valley of Honor."
"Do you mind, I don't know... Giving me an explanation for how Orgrimmar works?"
"Not at all. It's divided into different Valleys, kinda like the districts back in Vale."
"Ok."
"The largest, and the one that follows a theme the least, is the Valley of Strength. It has a lot of shops, and places to live," Ruby pointed to her right, "we'd get there by taking the Drag that way."
"The Drag?"
"Yeah, it's the road we're on. It leads from the Valley of Strength to the other Valleys. The Valley of Spirits is also that way, it's where the religious centers are," Ruby's had swiveled in the other direction, "that's the way we're going. We'll hit the Valley of Honor, which has a bunch of gladiator and warrior stuff. On the other side of the mesa," Ruby pointed behind her, "is the Valley of Wisdom, where the Warchief, his advisors, and the generals meet."
"Ok. Do you want to lead the way?"
"Yeah. Sure," Ruby turned, "come on."
Blake looked around as they walked through the Drag, feeling out of place as the walked passed a building where she could see an orc talking to a blood elf, "is it really fine for us to be here?"
"Yep," Ruby nodded, "Warchief let's humans in, so long as they don't cause trouble. There's a couple of traders who come in on the first wednesday of the month. They sell some rum Bloodeye likes."
Blake wondered if she should point out Ruby's slip of the tongue, before deciding against it.
They passed through a metal tunnel, exiting into another valley. The thing that immediately caught her eye was the building on a hill. Two pillars sat on either side of the staircase leading to the entrance, and outside of the red sheet metal lining the roof, the circular building was made of stone.
"What's that?"
"The Ring of Valor. I'll show it to you tomorrow," Ruby stopped in front of a house, "We're here. Where did I put my…?"
The exterior of the house looked like any other in Orgrimmar, made of stone and metal. There was, however, a wooden porch leading to the doorway, with a chair on it. In front of the house was a large ring of stones.
"What's that?"
"Sparring ring," Ruby grunted, searching various pouches, "I could have sworn… there it is!"
"Couldn't you have knocked?"
"Oh, yeah," Ruby blinked, "well, found it now," Ruby unlocked the door, "and here we are!"
Blake stepped in after Ruby, looking around the house, which was a blend of old and new. The main room had a couch and a threadbare pair of chairs, along with a coffee table, and a heater where the fireplace should have been.
"Rehgar! I'm back," Ruby looked around, "Rehgar?"
"Maybe he's out?"
"Maybe," Ruby scratches her head, "I guess I'll show you around. There isn't much, but it's home. We'll start with my room," She walked down a hallway, pushing open the left most door, and gesturing for Blake to follow.
The room practically radiated 'Ruby'. The walls, carpet, and bedding were all red and black, and there was a rat (ew) nibbling at stale cookies on a desk. Against one wall was a bookcase, though about half of them had orcish on the spine. Picking up one hefty book, Blake examined it. A Common to Orcish translation guide.
"Ruby?"
"What's up, Blake?" Ruby hadn't looked up from a letter that had been left on her bed, "Clean up my ro-? Oh, real funny, Rehgar."
"Do you mind if I keep this?"
"Yeah," Blake got the feeling Ruby wasn't really paying attention, "Go ahead. Anything of mine is yours t- oh that complete jerk! Reth!"
Ruby had crumpled the letter up, throwing the flaming ball out the window.
"What's wrong?"
"He's at one of the mesas in Durotar," Ruby walked out of the room, heading for the entrance, "on the other side of Orgrimmar."
"Does he do stuff like this often?" Blake asked as she jogged to keep up with Ruby.
"No," Ruby's voice faltered, "so why'd he do it this time?"
"Do you want to go ahead? I'll catch up to you."
"How?" Ruby asked.
"I can follow the petals?"
"They fade, I'm not risking it. We'll go together."
It took the better part of an hour, including climbing up the mesa, for them to finally arrive.
"About time you got here," a gruff voice said as Blake grabbed Ruby's hand to be pulled the rest of the way up, "I was about to go home."
The orc was sitting on a rock was wearing clothes that were… kinda bizarre. He was shirtless, but had on metal shoulder pads shaped like wolf heads. He was wearing leather fingerless gloves, and a gauntlet on his right hand that was also shaped like a wolf head, two large blades sprouting from the mouth, with a smaller blade on either side. He was wearing hakama, and the belt holding them up was decorated with another wolf head and a pair of tassels that ended in wolf fangs. He also had a wolf pelt over his head, making it so she could just barely see his blue eyes.
"So," Blake said in Ruby's ear, "I take it Rehgar really likes wolves?"
"I heard that!" Rehgar called.
How? He was on the other side of the area from them.
Rehgar jumped down from his spot walking towards them, "I see you found her."
"Yeah," Ruby smiled brightly, "I did. Blake this is Rehgar Earthfury. Rehgar-"
"Blake Belladonna," Rehgar cut Ruby off.
"Yes?" Something about Rehgar's piercing gaze unnerved her, and Blake reached for Gambol Shroud.
"Do me a favor, make sure my fool apprentice doesn't get herself killed down in Silithus."
"Hey!" Ruby pouted, "I'm not a fool!"
"Could've fooled me," Rehgar said, and Blake noticed something shimmering around his right arm, "you go running off to a war at the elements call without at least telling me what you wanted done with your body? That's asking for me to feed it to the wolves."
"You wouldn't do that," Ruby sounded certain, "besides, Stormsong said you were going to send me that way anyways."
"I was, but I still would have liked a warning. I don't like having to worry about you."
"So, you wanted to see me? And why were you waiting out here?"
"I did," Rehgar nodded, "And because I've got a test for you."
"He called us all the way here for a test?" Blake asked under her breath.
"That's what I said," Rehgar didn't break his gaze from Ruby, and something pushed his hakama, "you up for it, pup?"
"Alwa-"
Blake saw Ruby's eyes widened as Rehgar suddenly tried to punch her, smoldering petals flowing as she took a hyper-speed step back, only for them to suddenly snap back towards her as the shimmering exploded from his hand in the form of gale force winds.
Ruby was launched into the distance, and Blake saw a buzzard be obliterated as the wind hit it, blood being carried by the winds.
"What the hell was that!?" Blake drew Gambol Shroud off her back, only to freeze slightly as Rehgar's icy gaze snapped to her.
"Put that away before you put your eye out," he growled.
Did he think she couldn't use her own weapon?
"Why'd you do that?" she said, keeping Gambol Shroud trained on him even as he turned away and returned to the rocks he was seated on.
"That is my version of the test," Rehgar jumped back up, "grab a seat, we have a bit before she gets back, and I want to learn about Ruby's-" the last word was in Orcish.
"Her what?"
"Friend," despite the fact that Rehgar didn't bat an eye, Blake got the feeling he wasn't telling the truth.
---
Ruby took a second to be deeply confused as she rocketed through the air, flying towards the ocean.
That… wasn't what she was expecting. Though it reminded her of the Beacon entrance exam.
But what was it about? What was she expected to be doing? Unless that was the point of the test…
Ruby closed her eyes as she fell down towards the water, reaching out for Wind. She wouldn't be hurt by the fall, but she didn't want to weaken her Aura doing so.
The smell of salt and seaweed faded, bringing with it the familiar smell of… cookies?
Ruby breathed in again. Yes, it smelled of freshly baked cookies, like her dad would make when she had a bad day at Signal. He always told her to let them cool down, but she had never listened, the allure of melted chocolate drawing her.
A voice was carried to her ear, a whisper on the air, I am the Spirit of Air, Ruby. I'm the wind that cools the earth, that fills your lungs and lets you live. Everything that flies does so at my will, and I can pluck it away just as easily. Ask me.
Okayyy, that was weird, but Ruby wasn't about to question one of her patrons about it while she was in their domain, "I need to slow down before I hit the water."
That is what you need in the short term, yes. But what about the long term? Ask me.
"Ask you what?"
That is part of the test.
Ruby thought quietly as she remained suspended in air. Ask them what? What did she need? The only thing she could think of was…
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?"
I will give you the power to defend your Blake, the rest of your friends, and anyone you meet. Honor me, and that gift will always be yours.
Ruby floated down into the water, eyes locked on Durotar in the distance. As Ruby started to swim towards it, the water spoke to her. Ok, looks like they were doing this again.
I am the Spirit of Water, Ruby. I am the balm that heals, but also- Ruby felt herself be ripped under the water, struggling against water that felt more like silt, -the raging glory of the ocean. Every creature within it, from the tiny shrimp to the great whales are mine. As is- something formed under her, pushing her back out of the water, her soaked clothes drying in seconds as the water was pulled out of them. Above the chunk of ice Ruby was kneeling on, snow began to fall gently, the snow and the rain. Ask me.
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?" Ruby repeated, still wondering what this was all about.
I will. Honor me, and my gift will be yours always.
The currents shifted, pushing Ruby's chunk of ice to the shore where it cracked and melted.
The moment she had left the beach, standing on the rocky, infertile ground of Durotar, the next spirit came.
Ruby felt herself be rooted to the ground, and when she looked down, there was indeed earth crawling up her legs.
I am the Spirit of Earth, Ruby, The rumbling voice reached her ear, I am the bones of the world, and I give the food that allows the creatures of it to keep on living, the ground at Ruby's feat yielded, flowers sprouting out from under the earth, all in red and black, the plants feed the plant eaters, who feed those who eat meat, and all who survive feed me eventually. Ask me.
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?" Ruby murmured, recalling one of her books. Repetition, three questions so far, three answers. There would be a fourth, it was the number most commonly tied to the Elements.
Honor me and the earth will rise up in defence of those you care for.
The rocks around Ruby's feet crumbled, but she didn't get a step forward before the fire in her chest roared out of control. Ruby doubled over, falling to her knees as the pain got worse and sweat started to appear, only to be immediately turn to steam.
I am the Spirit of Fire, Ruby, the crackling in her ears was familiar, at least, I burn away that which is too weak to survive, the burning fled Ruby in a nova of flames, scorching away the flowers Earth created, before forming into a small campfire at her feet but I also warm the bones, and create. Use me, together with Earth, and you will create weapons beyond compare. Ask me.
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?" Ruby croaked out, pushing herself up tiredly. She had almost forgotten what burning felt like. Heat, like many elemental phenomena, didn't work the same way as for Shaman as it did with normal people. They could still feel it, and it could irritate them, but it's physical effects were, at worst, blunted. Ruby's pale skin had used to burn horribly in the sun, now she didn't.
That was never in an doubt, young pup. Honor me, and I will always be with you.
"So… is that it? Are we done?" Ruby asked in confusion. She still didn't get the point.
None of the spirits said anything at first, though that didn't mean Ruby didn't get her answer.
Slowly, spirit wolves started to prowl out from behind the scorched rocks and boulders. A couple small ones at first, but more and more appeared, growing in size until finally a wolf the size of a small car crashed down in front of her. Ruby's instincts screamed at her as she drew Crescent Rose from her back. Garn, that was a garn.
Then another voice entered her head, a chorus of thousands on hundreds of languages, We are the Spirit of the Wilds, the essence and souls of all things living. We are the most powerful of all, surpassing the quakes of Earth, the winds of Air, the flames of Fire, and the floods of Water. There has been much talk, and we have listened. Now we shall ask, and you shall answer. Why do you deserve this power and the responsibilities that will eventually come from it?
Ruby wetted her lips, trying to think of an answer as the spirit wolves prowled around her and her heart hammered away in her chest. She didn't like being surrounded by wolves like this again, it brought up too many bad memories. Nowhere to escape, nowhere to run.
"Can they back off a bit?" She asked weakly. Stronger than fire and earth? How? she had seen what they could unleash, when properly motivated.
The Wilds didn't say anything, but Ruby noticed, to her relief, that the tight ring around them became looser, some wolves disappearing completely. Now she just had to answer the question… but even that wasn't easy. What responsibilities? She didn't have any plan to try and reach Farseer, she was happy the way she was with Blake.
Finally the answer came unbidden, "I don't know," Ruby said voice seizing up halfway through. She hadn't admitted this before. Not to Rehgar, or Bloodeye, or Jaina, or even herself. She didn't know why the Elements choose her. There had to be hundreds of slaves across Azeroth in some form or another, so why her?
If a giant wolf could raise an eyebrow, the one in front of her sure did, you don't know?
"I don't know what I did to deserve any power in the first place," Ruby continued on, "what the Elements saw that made them chose me. I still don't know if they even made the right choice," Ruby felt hot tears start to fall, scrubbing at her burning eyes, "I just wanted to be free, I didn't think about what it would take, or what I would do after. I want to go home, if I ever get the chance, but," Here Ruby's voice dropped, "can I even do that? Or is that me breaking the promise I made?"
It was Fire who answered her, You're not our slave, young pup, it said softly, we asked you to serve us for a time, but if a time comes where you decide to turn away, we won't hold it against you.
The wolf in front of Ruby seemed to study her, Good. Honor me always, and you shall have my power when you need it.
"What?" Ruby frowned, "What do you mean? I still don't get what this is about."
A shaman is the Elements and a mortal working together. How can I work with you if you aren't willing to open up to me? When the time comes for you to call me, I will be there. Rehgar will teach you how to summon the spirit wolves. Return to him.
Ruby was left standing alone, before she activated her Semblance and ran back to where Blake and Rehgar were.
As she reached the top, they broke whatever conversation they were having to look at her.
"You passed?" Rehgar asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. Blake, I'm sorry, but this needs to be done in Orcish" Rehgar switched to the language, "I was being to get worried. Can you imagine how it would reflect on me if I had the first shaman to outright fail since Gul'dan?" Rehgar chuckled at his own joke, "Anyways. Congratulations, as of today, you are officially a full shaman."
"What!?"
"That was your final test. I'm always willing to give you a few lessons, and the house is still yours, but I don't want you to be bugging me everyday."
"But-"
"It's getting late," Ruby stopped talking, painfully aware that Rehgar was just going to bull rush through this without paying heed to her arguments. She wasn't ready for this. Didn't want to be ready for this, "we'll talk about it tomorrow. Show Blake around Orgrimmar," Rehgar stopped, "speaking of her, I approve."
"Appro- Rehgar!" Ruby shouted at her mentor, who had hopped off the mesa, his laughter carrying.
---
Yang slipped on the modified cloak, testing it for the first time. The heavy cloth wrapped around her like Ruby and Summer's did at times. It was significantly more comfortable, in her opinion.
"Good?" the seamstress asked as Yang through a couple punches, shadow boxing to make sure it wouldn't restrict her movements.
"One thing," Yang deployed Ember Celica, making sure they didn't get caught on anything, "It's great!"
"Interesting design," she said, "I could repurpose this for leathers. Might make decent armor."
"Ok?"
"I'd have to talk to Brumman," Yang got the feeling that the Draenei woman wasn't paying attention any more, and slipped out of the building.
It was early in the morning (or, at least, what everyone counted as such) and many of the inhabitants of Honor Hold were already hard at work. The sound of ringing metal came from the forge, and Yang passed a group of people carrying bows.
Hunters probably. A lot of food seemed to be gathered from the animals hearty enough to survive on Hellfire Peninsula.
And wasn't that a hell (Yang chuckled to herself, she would have to remember that one) of a name? Who names a place Hellfire?
Yang reached the building she was looking for, ducking in.
"Lebowski?"
"Yang!" the diminutive man, a 'gnome', turned to her, a wild grin on his face as he talked a mile a minute, "Perfect timing! I think I got it! Removed most of the noncombustibles! Catch!"
Yang caught the thrown shell, one of her empty ones that had been repurposed, slotting it into Ember Celica.
"Ready to test it?" Lebowski asked, a grin on his face.
"Yeah," Yang followed him out of the back exit, where a training dummy sat, "think this will work?"
"Definitely!" he climbed up a small staircase so he was even with Yang, "if you would just let me take apa-"
"No," Yang directed a red eyed glare at the gnome. He had been bugging her about letting him take apart Ember Celica for the last two weeks. He promised he could put them back together again, but she didn't want to risk it.
They, along with Weiss, were the only pieces of home she had at the moment.
And she did mean at the moment. Whatever had left them trapped on Draenor had to have grabbed Blake and Ruby too, right?
"Alright, alright," Lebowski gestured, "fire when ready."
Ember Celica gave a familiar roar as the dummy jerked, holes appearing in it.
"Perfect!" Lebowski jumped from his spot, "Come on! I'll get more ready!"
"You didn't do it before?"
"Didn't want to have to remove the powder if it didn't work! Shouldn't take too long, an hour or two at most!"
"Then do you mind if I go look for Weiss?"
"Not at all! See you later!"
Yang walked away from the house, heading back to the inn. Maybe Maan knew where Weiss was?
---
Weiss ignored the grumbling of her stomach as she raised her hand, pointing it to one of the boars around the outside of Honor Hold. A green glyph sprang into existence on the back of her hand.
Good, now imagine you're a drain. Focus on their life energy, it's yours, but you need to pull it out. It will not go willingly.
Slowly green smoke seemed to rise from the boar, slowly drifting towards Weiss.
Harder. How are you supposed to use the Fel in battle if you can't drain your enemy's life fast enough?
Weiss focused on the energy willing it to speed up. She had done it much quicker against the orc.
I was assisting you, of course. I know this art very well. Still, it was a valiant first effort. If only you had actually finished him off.
Weiss paused, looking around for the source of the whispers. Were the orcs trying to sneak up on her?
Those brutes? Please, they wouldn't know stealth if it stabbed them in the kidney. What happened to Kargath? He never had much skill in Fel, but he made Gul'dan's lapdog look like a bumbling infant. Now his entire clan is nothing but near mindless fodder for that demon-elf. You'd be wise to not let his fate befall you, Weiss… We both would. Balance, Weiss, in all things is the only way to avoid being consumed by the Fel.
The green smoke reached Weiss, and she inhaled deeply, energy coursing through her like a drug. Weiss paused, lowering her arm and letting the green smoke dissipate. If this stuff acted like a drug, could it addle her mind like one?
Oh joy. You're going to be one of those ones, aren't you?
Weiss remembered her mother, so often drunk that she had practically disconnected herself from the rest of the world. Looking down at her shaking hand, the young heiress clenched it into a fist in an attempt to stop it. Would that be what happened to her if she relied on this? She would be reduced to a shell?
What other options do you have, though? Do you want to be useless? I bet you don't.
But she didn't want to be useless, didn't want to be reliant on Yang and Maan.
You should use it.
She should use it, until she found something else. Maybe whatever Filinthus used? Or maybe she would find something in Shattrath?
I'm not exactly happy that's around. Do you know how much effort sacking it took? We were sure we wiped out the Draenei there.
"Weiss!" Weiss span at Yang's call, feeling her jaw drop slightly the brawler jog towards her, "Hey! What are you doing out he- what's wrong?"
"You turned it into a coat?" Weiss hadn't meant to sound incredulous, but it had slipped through anyways.
The former cloak was wrapped around Yang, a set of buttons holding it shut, and a pair of sleeves had been stitched on, turning it into a makeshift hooded long coat.
"Yeah!" Yang had a big grin on her face, making her resemblance to Ruby pronounced, "I didn't want the cloak getting in my way in a fight. What do ya think?"
"It's interesting," Weiss said evenly. Not something she would wear if she didn't need to, but little of what her team wore was her style, "Why are you out here?"
"Was looking for you," Yang shrugged, "you were the gone before I woke up, and you normally sleep later than everyone. Even Blake! And you know how much Blake likes sleeping."
"I was just practicing," Weiss brushed Yang's concern off, "we should head back."
"Why?"
"...I'm hungry," Weiss admitted reluctantly.
"You didn't eat before you left?"
"No," She had been too focused on getting out of the inn and not drawn back to bed.
"Then we should," Yang agreed, "missing breakfast isn't healthy."
Weiss snorted. Trust Yang who, outside of the occasional drink, was a huge fitness nut to worry about that, "I'll try to be better about it."
"Yeah," Yang threw an arm around Weiss's neck, "I don't want to be the one explaining to Ruby and Blake that you starved yourself to death."
---
"Xia!"
The woman in question looked up from where she was kneeling over a student, healing a few gouges in his side.
"Yes?" she asked politely to young trainee, "did you need something?"
"Master Shang Xi has requested to see you in the courtyard as soon as you can be there," the pandaren said with a bow.
"Did he inform you why?"
"The new class has arrived, he was hoping you would give them a demonstration of what healing can be achieved through chi. He also said he would have time for the meeting you have been requesting after."
"Then I shall make my way over as soon as I'm done here. You should go, I'm sure you have a lesson you are supposed to be at."
The trainee nodded, turning briskly walking towards the training grounds. Mossthorn, then.
Xia removed her hands with a flourish, dispersing the green fog-like energy that had gathered around them, "There. You should be fit to return training, Ji."
"That's good," the young Huojin stood, "Thanks again, Xia!"
"If you come back before the end of the week, I'll make sure nobody heals you," Xia called at his retreating back. Ji had already been in four times, and it was only Tuesday.
Xia sighed, running one pale hand through her brown hair, before grabbing her swords and locket and leaving to find Master Shang Xi.
As she walked through the courtyard, Xia played with the locket, pressing the button to opening it, exposing the water damaged images, and closing it.
Who were the two people in it? What was their connection to Xia? These questions had ate at her for the last two years, kept her awake for countless nights.
"Xia!" Xia's head turned to look at Instructor Qun, who was standing with a pair of trainees, one of whom was cradling his arm, "Perfect timing! Bolin here was injured during a spar. Which is why-?"
"-We always take spars seriously," the trainees said.
"Quite," Qun said, "because accidents happen, but they're less likely if both sides are on guard. Would you mind healing it, Xia?"
"I'm sorry," Xia bowed, "but I'm supposed to be meeting with Master Shang Xi-"
"-to demonstrate healing," Xia jumped slightly as the man in question rounded a corner, a gaggle of young pandarens at his heels.
"Where's her fur?" one of the cubs asked. Blue eyes staring at Xia in curiosity
"-which this is a perfect example of," Shang Xi continued as if the cub hadn't spoken, "Go ahead, Xia. Watch carefully, young ones. The art of healing, while it might not appear impressive, is to use chi in its purest form."
Xia closed her eyes, focusing on the wellspring of energy inside her, drawing it out and around her.
"Chi can strengthen your strikes, allowing you to meet opponents ten times your size in combat. It can empower your body, allowing you to turn aside a blade without harm. It can make your reflexes that of wind, keeping blows from touching you.
Xia opened her eyes, directing the green mist around Bolin's injured arm.
"But the flesh has limits, even with chi. Bones can break, skin can tear. Those who weave the mists can use chi to coax the body into repairing itself. As a blade tears through their ally's flesh, the mist causes the injury to stitch shut behind it. As bones break, the mist coaxes them back into position. Watch."
Xia pushed the bone into position, making the two halves match like a puzzle. Then she healed the break, Bolin's grimace fading as his injury did the same.
"Well done, Xia," Shang Xi said, "that concludes our tour, children. I'm sure Instructor Qun can guide you to your parents. Xia, you had wanted to meet with me?"
"Yes. In private, if possible."
"It is. Would you assist me in reaching my garden?"
"Of course."
Xia walked with Shang Xi up the hill, watching the animals that inhabited the garden move around.
"What is it you wished to speak with me about?
"I want to leave the academy."
"You do," it wasn't a question, merely an agreement, "Where do you wish to go?"
"I don't know," Xia said, tightening her grip on the locket, "but I'm hoping I'll find answers. Who was I? Did I have a family? Why was I floating in the ocean with a hole in my side and poison in my veins."
"That is understandable," Shang Xi said, "We are made who we are by our memories. Whoever you were died that day, Xia. But like a phoenix, it can rise again. The question, my student, is what happens to Xia when the flames ignite? Are you burned away completely, as if you never existed? Do the two sides war for control of the body? Perhaps you and who you were find peace, being Xia and them at the same time?"
"Yes," Xia said, "I need to know. I can't ignore it anymore."
"I always knew there was a spark of Huojin inside of you, Xia," Shang Xi smiled, his eyes crinkling, "If this is what you feel is best, you should go. Start with the Wandering Isle first, perhaps. We don't know much about the cultures off Shen-zin Su, and this is your first time leaving."
"So you're giving me permission to leave?"
"Permission? You don't need permission, Xia. I can point people in directions, but if their heart takes them elsewhere, I respect that."
"Thank you, Master," Xia bowed.
"When you first came here, you were dead by almost any accounts," Xia was silent, "but you fought through the poison. Up doing taolu in the courtyard in less than a month. I knew then something was special about you, that you would shape the course of history. And you can't do that walled off in the academy. If you want to leave, it must be your destiny calling. Go to it."
"Thank you, Master," Xia repeated, "I will gather my possessions and be off."
---
So, the motif of this chapter is mentors. We have three (four if you count Gallus) mentors interacting with their students.
"Is this really the time to be drinking?" he asked.
"Not alcohol," Zur'ak threw the bottle over his shoulder, "just water. Ya wouldn't believe how bad what we got in Silithus tastes. Da beer's actually better."
"Right. Where's your weapon?" the witch doctor wasn't known to go without his eponymous 'Firefist'.
"With ya student. It broke fightin' da damn bugs, and she offered to fix it. She a good smith?"
"Yes. She doesn't do it often, but I've never met someone who can make weapons attuned to the elements like she can."
Most shaman weren't smiths anymore, only those who had clung to the old ways from the Crossing to now. It was a borderline forgotten art amongst the orcs, at least. Mass production was easier, better to have a hundred guards with axes and blades that were all the same then it was to have twenty with weapons that could become legendary through infusion of the elements.
"High praise," Stormsong said, "I need to ask, have you ever thought of giving her the test?"
"Of course I have. Wanted to wait another year or so though, she's only just hit her third year as my apprentice. Why?"
"She said you hadn't told her to go down to Silithus, and that the elements gave her a vision to do so."
Zur'ak snorted, "She's mad. Hardly anyone get's visions that early. Ya sent her a letter, righ-"
"I tried," Rehgar said, clenching his fist under the table to keep from socking Zur'ak. Why did people keep insulting his kids, dammit? "But I didn't know where she was, and neither did Drek'thar."
"I think she's telling the truth," Stormsong said, "the elements wanted as many shaman as possible at Silithus. I get the feeling-"
"She's too noble for her own good?" Rehgar finished, "She grew up planning to be some sort of hero. It's not surprising she would jump at the chance."
"I'm still not sure we can trust that human girl with her," Stormsong said.
"There's a human girl?" Rehgar's head snapped towards Stormsong, "what's she look like?"
"I don't know. A normal human?" Stormsong said, "black hair, golden eyes. Wears a bow?"
"So she did find her," Rehgar said under his breath. Good for Ruby, "you can trust her."
"You know her?"
"Yes," Rehgar lied without batting an eye. It would be easier on everyone if there weren't Horde constantly sniffing around Ruby and, by proxy, Rehgar, "she's a very skilled fighter. They're great together."
"Ya sure?"
"Yes," Rehgar repeated, "do you think I should give her the test, Stormsong? How long did you stay as Magatha's apprentice?"
"A little under a year," Stormsong shrugged, "it wasn't that hard. I haven't ever seen anyone fail it."
"Failin' ain't da problem," Zur'ak said, "it's what happens if you can't handle what comes after. It's ya choice, Rehgar. Do ya think she's ready for it? I know ya, if she ain't, ya won't pretend she is."
"I think she is. Can you tell her I need her in Orgrimmar when she gives you back your weapon? And to bring Blake. How's things down in Silithus? That's what this is supposed to be about."
"I wanna punch da druids right between da eyes. 'We be promotin' nature' dey say, as dey try ta turn de desert into a forest. Dat ain't natural, dey don't seem to get it."
"He's been complaining about this for days," Stormsong said to Rehgar, "it's practically turned to a war every time more Silithids show up."
"We keep showin' dem! Destroyin' da anubisath before dey get a chance."
"Zur'ak!" everyone wheeled around as Drek'thar walked in, "good, I was worried we had missed you."
"Wit what?"
"A letter got through from Lady Proudmoore," Drek'thar turned his head to Rehgar, "I'd forgotten how much of a hassle it is to get that done without Ruby. This should have arrived four days ago."
"What?"
"The Kirin Tor is sending a group of mages to Silithus. We thought you would like to know about it in advance."
"When dey gettin' dere?"
"In a day or two," Drek'thar said, "they're still finalizing how many to send. Or, they were when the letter was sent."
---
"Father Brightgrave?"
Gallus looked up from where he was packing a small bag. Rosaries, Librams, a pair of robes, some supplies for stitching up any lost limbs.
"Crocbait," he said, "Yes, you had asked to speak with me, hadn't you?"
"Yes, Father."
"Well," Gallus stood, "I need to leave soon, but I can make a bit of time for you. What is it you need, child?" As the human stepped into Gallus's modest holdings, Gallus gestured to the nicer of the two chairs with his Light hand, "Sit."
"Are you sure-?"
"Sit," Gallus repeated, "the time for me to enjoy such trappings has long past. Sit."
Even in his mortal life, Bishop Gallus Carlyle had been sparse in his livings. While other bishops had lived in opulent apartments in Lordaeron and Stormwind, Gallus had stayed in a small parish in eastern Lordaeron.
"Now," Gallus sat in the other chair, lacing his fingers on his lap and ignoring his rosary, "What is it you need?"
"I- I had some questions for you," Crocbait shifted in his chair, "Do you remember when we met? You said you had friends that could heal mind injuries, right?"
"Yes," though Gallus would be hard pressed to call them friends. Those who had turned from the Light completely, allowing the Shadows to swallow them whole. It was a sentiment each of the few who became Watchers, those who stood at the threshold, held.
"Do you think I could meet with them?" Crocbait said, "I want to know. Who I am, why I'm here."
"I understand," Gallus said, "many undead awoke to a similar state. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing preparations for battle, my colleagues have left Orgrimmar for the south."
"Oh."
"But I will mention it to them when I get there. Once this threat is dealt with, we will return and get it sorted out. What else did you need, child?"
"What do you know about Paladins?"
"Ah," Gallus blinked the one eye that still had an eyelid. Back when Alonsus had suggested the idea of warrior priests, Gallus had been venomously against it. Too many ways it could go wrong, he had said.
Between Arthas and the Scarlet Crusade, he believed that he had been thoroughly vindicated. They had been useful in the war, but should have been dismantled after.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"Well, best to leave that train of thought behind you. Many of the Horde despise the knights. Too much shed blood," even the new 'Blood Knights' were barely tolerated.
"Yes, Father," Crocbait looked like a scolded child, sinking into his chair.
"Was there anything else you needed?
"Do you have any tomes I could read? I… find it peaceful here. Like a wolf trying to eat me is forced back. I hope I can carry that beyond here."
"Yes," Gallus stood from his spot, walking to the books he kept, "I can lend you one, if that's what you want?"
"It is."
"Mh," Gallus picked up a particularly old tome, passing it from one hand to the other, "this one should do. The Libram of Tenacity. It was my first Libram, back when I was little more than a aspirant."
Crocbait took the tome, bowing his head, "Thank you."
"I don't need your thanks, child. This is my duty. Was there anything else?"
"No."
"Well then," Gallus grabbed his staff in his Light hand, feeling the blackened skin burn further, "I must be off."
"Yes. I'll see you when you return."
---
Blake drew Gambol Shroud as she looked around the cave, sliding behind Ruby, "I didn't expect Orgrimmar to be so… dark."
"The Cleft of Shadow," Ruby explained quietly, "home to warlocks and thieves, it's also the easiest part of the city to get portals opened."
"Why?"
"Guards don't patrol down here much, since it's a hive of scum and villainy."
"You stole that from a movie."
"Yeah," Ruby let something fall into her hand. Blake squinted at it… was that a chain? "It fits. Come on, I don't want to spend too long down here."
They'd been walking through the cleft for ten minutes when the thief started to tail them. Blake glanced behind them, "Ruby, there's someone following us."
Ruby pointed at a brazier, embers sitting in it, "Reth."
The embers exploded into roaring flames, causing the thief to stop, before breaking off. Ruby waved her hand, putting out the fire.
"What did you say?"
"'Burn' in Kalimag. It doesn't really matter, all we needed was something to make him realize he was going to try and jump a spell caster. We're almost out."
Blake looked around the city as they stepped out of the cave, feeling her eyes contract as they did. She had heard that Orgrimmar was built into a canyon, and that had always projected an image of wonder.
The reality was a lot more ramshackled. Metal walkways were built along the walls, doors built over the caves. The building on the ground were slightly better, but still had sections made from sheets of metal.
"Huh," Blake said, "You'd think somewhere that put so much importance on shamanism would be more… natural," Ruby opened her mouth, "I know. I know. But the Alliance spends a lot of time talking about how far behind the Horde is. It's just posturing, I guess."
"Yeah. Come on, Rehgar's house is in the Valley of Honor."
"Do you mind, I don't know... Giving me an explanation for how Orgrimmar works?"
"Not at all. It's divided into different Valleys, kinda like the districts back in Vale."
"Ok."
"The largest, and the one that follows a theme the least, is the Valley of Strength. It has a lot of shops, and places to live," Ruby pointed to her right, "we'd get there by taking the Drag that way."
"The Drag?"
"Yeah, it's the road we're on. It leads from the Valley of Strength to the other Valleys. The Valley of Spirits is also that way, it's where the religious centers are," Ruby's had swiveled in the other direction, "that's the way we're going. We'll hit the Valley of Honor, which has a bunch of gladiator and warrior stuff. On the other side of the mesa," Ruby pointed behind her, "is the Valley of Wisdom, where the Warchief, his advisors, and the generals meet."
"Ok. Do you want to lead the way?"
"Yeah. Sure," Ruby turned, "come on."
Blake looked around as they walked through the Drag, feeling out of place as the walked passed a building where she could see an orc talking to a blood elf, "is it really fine for us to be here?"
"Yep," Ruby nodded, "Warchief let's humans in, so long as they don't cause trouble. There's a couple of traders who come in on the first wednesday of the month. They sell some rum Bloodeye likes."
Blake wondered if she should point out Ruby's slip of the tongue, before deciding against it.
They passed through a metal tunnel, exiting into another valley. The thing that immediately caught her eye was the building on a hill. Two pillars sat on either side of the staircase leading to the entrance, and outside of the red sheet metal lining the roof, the circular building was made of stone.
"What's that?"
"The Ring of Valor. I'll show it to you tomorrow," Ruby stopped in front of a house, "We're here. Where did I put my…?"
The exterior of the house looked like any other in Orgrimmar, made of stone and metal. There was, however, a wooden porch leading to the doorway, with a chair on it. In front of the house was a large ring of stones.
"What's that?"
"Sparring ring," Ruby grunted, searching various pouches, "I could have sworn… there it is!"
"Couldn't you have knocked?"
"Oh, yeah," Ruby blinked, "well, found it now," Ruby unlocked the door, "and here we are!"
Blake stepped in after Ruby, looking around the house, which was a blend of old and new. The main room had a couch and a threadbare pair of chairs, along with a coffee table, and a heater where the fireplace should have been.
"Rehgar! I'm back," Ruby looked around, "Rehgar?"
"Maybe he's out?"
"Maybe," Ruby scratches her head, "I guess I'll show you around. There isn't much, but it's home. We'll start with my room," She walked down a hallway, pushing open the left most door, and gesturing for Blake to follow.
The room practically radiated 'Ruby'. The walls, carpet, and bedding were all red and black, and there was a rat (ew) nibbling at stale cookies on a desk. Against one wall was a bookcase, though about half of them had orcish on the spine. Picking up one hefty book, Blake examined it. A Common to Orcish translation guide.
"Ruby?"
"What's up, Blake?" Ruby hadn't looked up from a letter that had been left on her bed, "Clean up my ro-? Oh, real funny, Rehgar."
"Do you mind if I keep this?"
"Yeah," Blake got the feeling Ruby wasn't really paying attention, "Go ahead. Anything of mine is yours t- oh that complete jerk! Reth!"
Ruby had crumpled the letter up, throwing the flaming ball out the window.
"What's wrong?"
"He's at one of the mesas in Durotar," Ruby walked out of the room, heading for the entrance, "on the other side of Orgrimmar."
"Does he do stuff like this often?" Blake asked as she jogged to keep up with Ruby.
"No," Ruby's voice faltered, "so why'd he do it this time?"
"Do you want to go ahead? I'll catch up to you."
"How?" Ruby asked.
"I can follow the petals?"
"They fade, I'm not risking it. We'll go together."
It took the better part of an hour, including climbing up the mesa, for them to finally arrive.
"About time you got here," a gruff voice said as Blake grabbed Ruby's hand to be pulled the rest of the way up, "I was about to go home."
The orc was sitting on a rock was wearing clothes that were… kinda bizarre. He was shirtless, but had on metal shoulder pads shaped like wolf heads. He was wearing leather fingerless gloves, and a gauntlet on his right hand that was also shaped like a wolf head, two large blades sprouting from the mouth, with a smaller blade on either side. He was wearing hakama, and the belt holding them up was decorated with another wolf head and a pair of tassels that ended in wolf fangs. He also had a wolf pelt over his head, making it so she could just barely see his blue eyes.
"So," Blake said in Ruby's ear, "I take it Rehgar really likes wolves?"
"I heard that!" Rehgar called.
How? He was on the other side of the area from them.
Rehgar jumped down from his spot walking towards them, "I see you found her."
"Yeah," Ruby smiled brightly, "I did. Blake this is Rehgar Earthfury. Rehgar-"
"Blake Belladonna," Rehgar cut Ruby off.
"Yes?" Something about Rehgar's piercing gaze unnerved her, and Blake reached for Gambol Shroud.
"Do me a favor, make sure my fool apprentice doesn't get herself killed down in Silithus."
"Hey!" Ruby pouted, "I'm not a fool!"
"Could've fooled me," Rehgar said, and Blake noticed something shimmering around his right arm, "you go running off to a war at the elements call without at least telling me what you wanted done with your body? That's asking for me to feed it to the wolves."
"You wouldn't do that," Ruby sounded certain, "besides, Stormsong said you were going to send me that way anyways."
"I was, but I still would have liked a warning. I don't like having to worry about you."
"So, you wanted to see me? And why were you waiting out here?"
"I did," Rehgar nodded, "And because I've got a test for you."
"He called us all the way here for a test?" Blake asked under her breath.
"That's what I said," Rehgar didn't break his gaze from Ruby, and something pushed his hakama, "you up for it, pup?"
"Alwa-"
Blake saw Ruby's eyes widened as Rehgar suddenly tried to punch her, smoldering petals flowing as she took a hyper-speed step back, only for them to suddenly snap back towards her as the shimmering exploded from his hand in the form of gale force winds.
Ruby was launched into the distance, and Blake saw a buzzard be obliterated as the wind hit it, blood being carried by the winds.
"What the hell was that!?" Blake drew Gambol Shroud off her back, only to freeze slightly as Rehgar's icy gaze snapped to her.
"Put that away before you put your eye out," he growled.
Did he think she couldn't use her own weapon?
"Why'd you do that?" she said, keeping Gambol Shroud trained on him even as he turned away and returned to the rocks he was seated on.
"That is my version of the test," Rehgar jumped back up, "grab a seat, we have a bit before she gets back, and I want to learn about Ruby's-" the last word was in Orcish.
"Her what?"
"Friend," despite the fact that Rehgar didn't bat an eye, Blake got the feeling he wasn't telling the truth.
---
Ruby took a second to be deeply confused as she rocketed through the air, flying towards the ocean.
That… wasn't what she was expecting. Though it reminded her of the Beacon entrance exam.
But what was it about? What was she expected to be doing? Unless that was the point of the test…
Ruby closed her eyes as she fell down towards the water, reaching out for Wind. She wouldn't be hurt by the fall, but she didn't want to weaken her Aura doing so.
The smell of salt and seaweed faded, bringing with it the familiar smell of… cookies?
Ruby breathed in again. Yes, it smelled of freshly baked cookies, like her dad would make when she had a bad day at Signal. He always told her to let them cool down, but she had never listened, the allure of melted chocolate drawing her.
A voice was carried to her ear, a whisper on the air, I am the Spirit of Air, Ruby. I'm the wind that cools the earth, that fills your lungs and lets you live. Everything that flies does so at my will, and I can pluck it away just as easily. Ask me.
Okayyy, that was weird, but Ruby wasn't about to question one of her patrons about it while she was in their domain, "I need to slow down before I hit the water."
That is what you need in the short term, yes. But what about the long term? Ask me.
"Ask you what?"
That is part of the test.
Ruby thought quietly as she remained suspended in air. Ask them what? What did she need? The only thing she could think of was…
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?"
I will give you the power to defend your Blake, the rest of your friends, and anyone you meet. Honor me, and that gift will always be yours.
Ruby floated down into the water, eyes locked on Durotar in the distance. As Ruby started to swim towards it, the water spoke to her. Ok, looks like they were doing this again.
I am the Spirit of Water, Ruby. I am the balm that heals, but also- Ruby felt herself be ripped under the water, struggling against water that felt more like silt, -the raging glory of the ocean. Every creature within it, from the tiny shrimp to the great whales are mine. As is- something formed under her, pushing her back out of the water, her soaked clothes drying in seconds as the water was pulled out of them. Above the chunk of ice Ruby was kneeling on, snow began to fall gently, the snow and the rain. Ask me.
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?" Ruby repeated, still wondering what this was all about.
I will. Honor me, and my gift will be yours always.
The currents shifted, pushing Ruby's chunk of ice to the shore where it cracked and melted.
The moment she had left the beach, standing on the rocky, infertile ground of Durotar, the next spirit came.
Ruby felt herself be rooted to the ground, and when she looked down, there was indeed earth crawling up her legs.
I am the Spirit of Earth, Ruby, The rumbling voice reached her ear, I am the bones of the world, and I give the food that allows the creatures of it to keep on living, the ground at Ruby's feat yielded, flowers sprouting out from under the earth, all in red and black, the plants feed the plant eaters, who feed those who eat meat, and all who survive feed me eventually. Ask me.
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?" Ruby murmured, recalling one of her books. Repetition, three questions so far, three answers. There would be a fourth, it was the number most commonly tied to the Elements.
Honor me and the earth will rise up in defence of those you care for.
The rocks around Ruby's feet crumbled, but she didn't get a step forward before the fire in her chest roared out of control. Ruby doubled over, falling to her knees as the pain got worse and sweat started to appear, only to be immediately turn to steam.
I am the Spirit of Fire, Ruby, the crackling in her ears was familiar, at least, I burn away that which is too weak to survive, the burning fled Ruby in a nova of flames, scorching away the flowers Earth created, before forming into a small campfire at her feet but I also warm the bones, and create. Use me, together with Earth, and you will create weapons beyond compare. Ask me.
"Will you lend me your power so I can protect Blake and the rest of my friends? And anyone else we meet who needs help?" Ruby croaked out, pushing herself up tiredly. She had almost forgotten what burning felt like. Heat, like many elemental phenomena, didn't work the same way as for Shaman as it did with normal people. They could still feel it, and it could irritate them, but it's physical effects were, at worst, blunted. Ruby's pale skin had used to burn horribly in the sun, now she didn't.
That was never in an doubt, young pup. Honor me, and I will always be with you.
"So… is that it? Are we done?" Ruby asked in confusion. She still didn't get the point.
None of the spirits said anything at first, though that didn't mean Ruby didn't get her answer.
Slowly, spirit wolves started to prowl out from behind the scorched rocks and boulders. A couple small ones at first, but more and more appeared, growing in size until finally a wolf the size of a small car crashed down in front of her. Ruby's instincts screamed at her as she drew Crescent Rose from her back. Garn, that was a garn.
Then another voice entered her head, a chorus of thousands on hundreds of languages, We are the Spirit of the Wilds, the essence and souls of all things living. We are the most powerful of all, surpassing the quakes of Earth, the winds of Air, the flames of Fire, and the floods of Water. There has been much talk, and we have listened. Now we shall ask, and you shall answer. Why do you deserve this power and the responsibilities that will eventually come from it?
Ruby wetted her lips, trying to think of an answer as the spirit wolves prowled around her and her heart hammered away in her chest. She didn't like being surrounded by wolves like this again, it brought up too many bad memories. Nowhere to escape, nowhere to run.
"Can they back off a bit?" She asked weakly. Stronger than fire and earth? How? she had seen what they could unleash, when properly motivated.
The Wilds didn't say anything, but Ruby noticed, to her relief, that the tight ring around them became looser, some wolves disappearing completely. Now she just had to answer the question… but even that wasn't easy. What responsibilities? She didn't have any plan to try and reach Farseer, she was happy the way she was with Blake.
Finally the answer came unbidden, "I don't know," Ruby said voice seizing up halfway through. She hadn't admitted this before. Not to Rehgar, or Bloodeye, or Jaina, or even herself. She didn't know why the Elements choose her. There had to be hundreds of slaves across Azeroth in some form or another, so why her?
If a giant wolf could raise an eyebrow, the one in front of her sure did, you don't know?
"I don't know what I did to deserve any power in the first place," Ruby continued on, "what the Elements saw that made them chose me. I still don't know if they even made the right choice," Ruby felt hot tears start to fall, scrubbing at her burning eyes, "I just wanted to be free, I didn't think about what it would take, or what I would do after. I want to go home, if I ever get the chance, but," Here Ruby's voice dropped, "can I even do that? Or is that me breaking the promise I made?"
It was Fire who answered her, You're not our slave, young pup, it said softly, we asked you to serve us for a time, but if a time comes where you decide to turn away, we won't hold it against you.
The wolf in front of Ruby seemed to study her, Good. Honor me always, and you shall have my power when you need it.
"What?" Ruby frowned, "What do you mean? I still don't get what this is about."
A shaman is the Elements and a mortal working together. How can I work with you if you aren't willing to open up to me? When the time comes for you to call me, I will be there. Rehgar will teach you how to summon the spirit wolves. Return to him.
Ruby was left standing alone, before she activated her Semblance and ran back to where Blake and Rehgar were.
As she reached the top, they broke whatever conversation they were having to look at her.
"You passed?" Rehgar asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. Blake, I'm sorry, but this needs to be done in Orcish" Rehgar switched to the language, "I was being to get worried. Can you imagine how it would reflect on me if I had the first shaman to outright fail since Gul'dan?" Rehgar chuckled at his own joke, "Anyways. Congratulations, as of today, you are officially a full shaman."
"What!?"
"That was your final test. I'm always willing to give you a few lessons, and the house is still yours, but I don't want you to be bugging me everyday."
"But-"
"It's getting late," Ruby stopped talking, painfully aware that Rehgar was just going to bull rush through this without paying heed to her arguments. She wasn't ready for this. Didn't want to be ready for this, "we'll talk about it tomorrow. Show Blake around Orgrimmar," Rehgar stopped, "speaking of her, I approve."
"Appro- Rehgar!" Ruby shouted at her mentor, who had hopped off the mesa, his laughter carrying.
---
Yang slipped on the modified cloak, testing it for the first time. The heavy cloth wrapped around her like Ruby and Summer's did at times. It was significantly more comfortable, in her opinion.
"Good?" the seamstress asked as Yang through a couple punches, shadow boxing to make sure it wouldn't restrict her movements.
"One thing," Yang deployed Ember Celica, making sure they didn't get caught on anything, "It's great!"
"Interesting design," she said, "I could repurpose this for leathers. Might make decent armor."
"Ok?"
"I'd have to talk to Brumman," Yang got the feeling that the Draenei woman wasn't paying attention any more, and slipped out of the building.
It was early in the morning (or, at least, what everyone counted as such) and many of the inhabitants of Honor Hold were already hard at work. The sound of ringing metal came from the forge, and Yang passed a group of people carrying bows.
Hunters probably. A lot of food seemed to be gathered from the animals hearty enough to survive on Hellfire Peninsula.
And wasn't that a hell (Yang chuckled to herself, she would have to remember that one) of a name? Who names a place Hellfire?
Yang reached the building she was looking for, ducking in.
"Lebowski?"
"Yang!" the diminutive man, a 'gnome', turned to her, a wild grin on his face as he talked a mile a minute, "Perfect timing! I think I got it! Removed most of the noncombustibles! Catch!"
Yang caught the thrown shell, one of her empty ones that had been repurposed, slotting it into Ember Celica.
"Ready to test it?" Lebowski asked, a grin on his face.
"Yeah," Yang followed him out of the back exit, where a training dummy sat, "think this will work?"
"Definitely!" he climbed up a small staircase so he was even with Yang, "if you would just let me take apa-"
"No," Yang directed a red eyed glare at the gnome. He had been bugging her about letting him take apart Ember Celica for the last two weeks. He promised he could put them back together again, but she didn't want to risk it.
They, along with Weiss, were the only pieces of home she had at the moment.
And she did mean at the moment. Whatever had left them trapped on Draenor had to have grabbed Blake and Ruby too, right?
"Alright, alright," Lebowski gestured, "fire when ready."
Ember Celica gave a familiar roar as the dummy jerked, holes appearing in it.
"Perfect!" Lebowski jumped from his spot, "Come on! I'll get more ready!"
"You didn't do it before?"
"Didn't want to have to remove the powder if it didn't work! Shouldn't take too long, an hour or two at most!"
"Then do you mind if I go look for Weiss?"
"Not at all! See you later!"
Yang walked away from the house, heading back to the inn. Maybe Maan knew where Weiss was?
---
Weiss ignored the grumbling of her stomach as she raised her hand, pointing it to one of the boars around the outside of Honor Hold. A green glyph sprang into existence on the back of her hand.
Good, now imagine you're a drain. Focus on their life energy, it's yours, but you need to pull it out. It will not go willingly.
Slowly green smoke seemed to rise from the boar, slowly drifting towards Weiss.
Harder. How are you supposed to use the Fel in battle if you can't drain your enemy's life fast enough?
Weiss focused on the energy willing it to speed up. She had done it much quicker against the orc.
I was assisting you, of course. I know this art very well. Still, it was a valiant first effort. If only you had actually finished him off.
Weiss paused, looking around for the source of the whispers. Were the orcs trying to sneak up on her?
Those brutes? Please, they wouldn't know stealth if it stabbed them in the kidney. What happened to Kargath? He never had much skill in Fel, but he made Gul'dan's lapdog look like a bumbling infant. Now his entire clan is nothing but near mindless fodder for that demon-elf. You'd be wise to not let his fate befall you, Weiss… We both would. Balance, Weiss, in all things is the only way to avoid being consumed by the Fel.
The green smoke reached Weiss, and she inhaled deeply, energy coursing through her like a drug. Weiss paused, lowering her arm and letting the green smoke dissipate. If this stuff acted like a drug, could it addle her mind like one?
Oh joy. You're going to be one of those ones, aren't you?
Weiss remembered her mother, so often drunk that she had practically disconnected herself from the rest of the world. Looking down at her shaking hand, the young heiress clenched it into a fist in an attempt to stop it. Would that be what happened to her if she relied on this? She would be reduced to a shell?
What other options do you have, though? Do you want to be useless? I bet you don't.
But she didn't want to be useless, didn't want to be reliant on Yang and Maan.
You should use it.
She should use it, until she found something else. Maybe whatever Filinthus used? Or maybe she would find something in Shattrath?
I'm not exactly happy that's around. Do you know how much effort sacking it took? We were sure we wiped out the Draenei there.
"Weiss!" Weiss span at Yang's call, feeling her jaw drop slightly the brawler jog towards her, "Hey! What are you doing out he- what's wrong?"
"You turned it into a coat?" Weiss hadn't meant to sound incredulous, but it had slipped through anyways.
The former cloak was wrapped around Yang, a set of buttons holding it shut, and a pair of sleeves had been stitched on, turning it into a makeshift hooded long coat.
"Yeah!" Yang had a big grin on her face, making her resemblance to Ruby pronounced, "I didn't want the cloak getting in my way in a fight. What do ya think?"
"It's interesting," Weiss said evenly. Not something she would wear if she didn't need to, but little of what her team wore was her style, "Why are you out here?"
"Was looking for you," Yang shrugged, "you were the gone before I woke up, and you normally sleep later than everyone. Even Blake! And you know how much Blake likes sleeping."
"I was just practicing," Weiss brushed Yang's concern off, "we should head back."
"Why?"
"...I'm hungry," Weiss admitted reluctantly.
"You didn't eat before you left?"
"No," She had been too focused on getting out of the inn and not drawn back to bed.
"Then we should," Yang agreed, "missing breakfast isn't healthy."
Weiss snorted. Trust Yang who, outside of the occasional drink, was a huge fitness nut to worry about that, "I'll try to be better about it."
"Yeah," Yang threw an arm around Weiss's neck, "I don't want to be the one explaining to Ruby and Blake that you starved yourself to death."
---
"Xia!"
The woman in question looked up from where she was kneeling over a student, healing a few gouges in his side.
"Yes?" she asked politely to young trainee, "did you need something?"
"Master Shang Xi has requested to see you in the courtyard as soon as you can be there," the pandaren said with a bow.
"Did he inform you why?"
"The new class has arrived, he was hoping you would give them a demonstration of what healing can be achieved through chi. He also said he would have time for the meeting you have been requesting after."
"Then I shall make my way over as soon as I'm done here. You should go, I'm sure you have a lesson you are supposed to be at."
The trainee nodded, turning briskly walking towards the training grounds. Mossthorn, then.
Xia removed her hands with a flourish, dispersing the green fog-like energy that had gathered around them, "There. You should be fit to return training, Ji."
"That's good," the young Huojin stood, "Thanks again, Xia!"
"If you come back before the end of the week, I'll make sure nobody heals you," Xia called at his retreating back. Ji had already been in four times, and it was only Tuesday.
Xia sighed, running one pale hand through her brown hair, before grabbing her swords and locket and leaving to find Master Shang Xi.
As she walked through the courtyard, Xia played with the locket, pressing the button to opening it, exposing the water damaged images, and closing it.
Who were the two people in it? What was their connection to Xia? These questions had ate at her for the last two years, kept her awake for countless nights.
"Xia!" Xia's head turned to look at Instructor Qun, who was standing with a pair of trainees, one of whom was cradling his arm, "Perfect timing! Bolin here was injured during a spar. Which is why-?"
"-We always take spars seriously," the trainees said.
"Quite," Qun said, "because accidents happen, but they're less likely if both sides are on guard. Would you mind healing it, Xia?"
"I'm sorry," Xia bowed, "but I'm supposed to be meeting with Master Shang Xi-"
"-to demonstrate healing," Xia jumped slightly as the man in question rounded a corner, a gaggle of young pandarens at his heels.
"Where's her fur?" one of the cubs asked. Blue eyes staring at Xia in curiosity
"-which this is a perfect example of," Shang Xi continued as if the cub hadn't spoken, "Go ahead, Xia. Watch carefully, young ones. The art of healing, while it might not appear impressive, is to use chi in its purest form."
Xia closed her eyes, focusing on the wellspring of energy inside her, drawing it out and around her.
"Chi can strengthen your strikes, allowing you to meet opponents ten times your size in combat. It can empower your body, allowing you to turn aside a blade without harm. It can make your reflexes that of wind, keeping blows from touching you.
Xia opened her eyes, directing the green mist around Bolin's injured arm.
"But the flesh has limits, even with chi. Bones can break, skin can tear. Those who weave the mists can use chi to coax the body into repairing itself. As a blade tears through their ally's flesh, the mist causes the injury to stitch shut behind it. As bones break, the mist coaxes them back into position. Watch."
Xia pushed the bone into position, making the two halves match like a puzzle. Then she healed the break, Bolin's grimace fading as his injury did the same.
"Well done, Xia," Shang Xi said, "that concludes our tour, children. I'm sure Instructor Qun can guide you to your parents. Xia, you had wanted to meet with me?"
"Yes. In private, if possible."
"It is. Would you assist me in reaching my garden?"
"Of course."
Xia walked with Shang Xi up the hill, watching the animals that inhabited the garden move around.
"What is it you wished to speak with me about?
"I want to leave the academy."
"You do," it wasn't a question, merely an agreement, "Where do you wish to go?"
"I don't know," Xia said, tightening her grip on the locket, "but I'm hoping I'll find answers. Who was I? Did I have a family? Why was I floating in the ocean with a hole in my side and poison in my veins."
"That is understandable," Shang Xi said, "We are made who we are by our memories. Whoever you were died that day, Xia. But like a phoenix, it can rise again. The question, my student, is what happens to Xia when the flames ignite? Are you burned away completely, as if you never existed? Do the two sides war for control of the body? Perhaps you and who you were find peace, being Xia and them at the same time?"
"Yes," Xia said, "I need to know. I can't ignore it anymore."
"I always knew there was a spark of Huojin inside of you, Xia," Shang Xi smiled, his eyes crinkling, "If this is what you feel is best, you should go. Start with the Wandering Isle first, perhaps. We don't know much about the cultures off Shen-zin Su, and this is your first time leaving."
"So you're giving me permission to leave?"
"Permission? You don't need permission, Xia. I can point people in directions, but if their heart takes them elsewhere, I respect that."
"Thank you, Master," Xia bowed.
"When you first came here, you were dead by almost any accounts," Xia was silent, "but you fought through the poison. Up doing taolu in the courtyard in less than a month. I knew then something was special about you, that you would shape the course of history. And you can't do that walled off in the academy. If you want to leave, it must be your destiny calling. Go to it."
"Thank you, Master," Xia repeated, "I will gather my possessions and be off."
---
So, the motif of this chapter is mentors. We have three (four if you count Gallus) mentors interacting with their students.
Last edited:
Dragonjackel
GOLDEN Judgement
- Location
- Gregory House
That was a good chapter.
This is a good fic.
Reminds me of that Death Knight Ruby fic I read awhile back, I think your the same author, I read so many fics and quests that authors and whatnot start to blend together. That was a good fic too, but a little too angsty for my tastes, this is much more tolerable (not that that fic was bad by any stretch, it was good, though I'm assuming it's dead by now.)
This is a good fic.
Reminds me of that Death Knight Ruby fic I read awhile back, I think your the same author, I read so many fics and quests that authors and whatnot start to blend together. That was a good fic too, but a little too angsty for my tastes, this is much more tolerable (not that that fic was bad by any stretch, it was good, though I'm assuming it's dead by now.)
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Grave is bad. Not because of the angst, which in a large part came from an undiagnosed case of PTSD (hence why she was borderline alcoholic) and a guilt complex, but because it started life as a crack fic (the Ruby/Illidan pairing? Chosen specificlly because of how nonsensical it was) and never managed to shake the remaining shackles of that.
One day I do want to go back and redo Grave, as I think there's a lot of potential for a good horror fic in the concept of Ruby suddenly showing up two years older than she should be with glowing silver eyes, a echoing voice, no pulse and an almost careless brutality. And she has an army of people just like her.
Alternatively, it would make a very good WAFF fic as TQ, WBY, and JNPR convinced Ruby that, no, the things she did under the Scourge weren't her fault, that Arthas essentially brainwashed her and Kel'thuzad tortured the last bit of defiance out of her, and that everything after that was a Pavlovian response of doing whatever it took to not go back there. That she was the victim as much as the people she killed. Pretty much the way Grave was going when I stopped (though the new chapter is still sitting on my harddrive, occasionally getting pulled up as a few words added to it).
- Location
- Spain
Wait, Xia isn't a Pandaren? I thought she was the mistweaver from the Timeless Isle.
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Different Xia (though, funnily, both are mistweavers).
I had actually completely spaced canon Xia's existence.
No, Xia is a human (and yes, I'm aware of the unfortunate implications that can be drawn on that) who washed up (well, was fished up) on the Wandering Isle two years and a few months ago with a hole in her side and not a clue who she was. She was taken in by Sheng Xi's academy and, while fairly decent in martial arts (especially ones using swords) took to healing like a fish to water.
beorn91
Ours mal léché
- Location
- France
Sorry, French reader here. What does WAFF mean?
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Warm and Fuzzy Feeling. Essentially focusing on everyone giving Ruby a (probably not literal, lest she breaks their arm) hug and making sure she understands she isn't alone and that she wasn't willingly a monster.
Takoe
Dad
- Location
- Xehafort
Wait, I thought they were in Pandaria?
Or am I reading this wrong?
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Shen-zin Su and the Wandering Isle are one in the same. While they haven't contacted Pandaria since Liu Lang died, they're also happy not contacting the rest of the world. Chen, Li Li, and Gravewalker Gie are exceptions to the rule, rather than the norm. Chon Po (Li Li's father, Chen's brother) thinks very little of them for leaving as does Chen's childhood friend Strongbo.
The "Grandchildren of Liu Lang" as Shen-zin Su calls them, have ironically lost the wanderlust that caused their ancestors to want to climb onto Shen-zin Su and leave Pandaria in the first place.
In a bit of trivia, out of the three mentors that appear in this chapter, Sheng Xi is supposed to be the 'perfect' one. Rehgar is kinda a dick, but is violently protective of 'his kids' and wants them to be happy (the untranslated word when he talks to Blake is 'Mate' for example). Hell, as next chapter shows, he's even starting to verge on this for Team V (even though Broll is several generations older than him). Weiss's Fiendish Friend acts nice, but doesn't actually care about her. Sheng Xi is proud of Xia, and acknowledges that she is capable of her own decisions. He gives a warning which Xia actually gives a non-answer to, and he doesn't call her out on it.
Instead mearly suggusting that Xia starts small, as she hasn't been outside of the academy in her life. (He's actually hoping to delay her leaving Shen-zin Su until he can find some way to contact Chen, so she can have someone who does know the world off of the Wandering Isle with her).
In a further bit of trivia, Sheng Xi is one of the only characters who, within the context of Fur, is legitimately multiclassed as a result of being so old (He's been teaching for three generations). Some characters have a bit of stuff mixed in but Sheng Xi has mastered Chi and Evocation magic.
Last edited:
Takoe
Dad
- Location
- Xehafort
Ah, that was the distinction I was missing. Alright, it makes sense now.
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Bit of warning, getting some surgery done today (screaming internally), so that might effect the speed it takes to get the next chapter out. Either I'll be too out of it to work on it, or I'll work on it to avoid the pain.
Either way, wish me luck!
Either way, wish me luck!
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
While I hope I don't need to actively say this, I'm aware I can be distant and kinda snippy at times, so I'll throw it out there.
If anyone has any questions on the setting, I'm always happy to answer, so long as it doesn't spoil things.
I know there are people who know a lot about RWBY and little about Warcraft (amd vice versa) so don't hesitate to ask. Hell, if you got confused on something from the story, ask. So long as I'm not being deliberately obtuse to hide something, I'm always willing to clarify (and then go back and edit the chapter to make it clearer)
If anyone has any questions on the setting, I'm always happy to answer, so long as it doesn't spoil things.
I know there are people who know a lot about RWBY and little about Warcraft (amd vice versa) so don't hesitate to ask. Hell, if you got confused on something from the story, ask. So long as I'm not being deliberately obtuse to hide something, I'm always willing to clarify (and then go back and edit the chapter to make it clearer)
Last edited:
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Spell check, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Strange question time. I'm currently working on a section that is chronologically in the implied time skip between Crocbait talking with Gallus and Ruby and Blake arriving in Orgrimmar. It isn't of vital importance to the story outright (mostly answering a question that would crop up in the chapter proper). Would people like me to post it as a separate mini-chapter?
Interlude 1: Rage.
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Valeera span the pair of orcish daggers in her hands. They were so large that they might as well be shortswords.
"Why are they green?"
"Metal used in them," Rehgar grunted in Common. Was he capable of speaking Common outside of grunts? "Don't know what, though. Ask Ruby when she gets here tomorrow."
Ruby was coming back? That explained why Rehgar seemed to be in a decent mood. Talking in Common more than he normally did, at least.
"Broll! What are you taking?"
The gladiators were in the Hall of Legends, a secret armory for gladiators, brimming with spoils of war in the form of weapons and armor from every known continent of Azeroth.
"This staff," Broll lifted up the carved piece of wood. It ended in a deer's head, two blue stones socketed in the eyes, "it must have been a druid's weapon at some point."
"What's with the deer?"
"The deer?" Broll bristled with anger, "the deer? This is in the likeness of Malorne, father of Cenarius and lover of Elune. He is one of the most import-"
"Don't care," Valeera turned away from Broll, smirking at the bear-like growl he gave, "Crocbait! How about you? What are you-? Crocbait, are you alright?"
Crocbait was holding a belt with a golden lion head at the front, looking at it wistfully.
"Crocbait? What's wrong, boy?" Valeera jumped as Rehgar pushed past her, planting a hand on Crocbait's arm, "you alright?"
"This seems familiar," Crocbait said, "and I don't know why."
"Hmm," Rehgar grunted again, "well, we'll look into it later. You taking it?"
"Yeah," Crocbait ran a hand along the belt, "yeah."
"What's this all about, anyways? I thought we still had a bit till Dire Maul," Valeera caught her knives, getting used to the weight if them.
"We do," Rehgar threw something at her, "but something came up."
Valeera grabbed the two red items out of the air, checking them out, "sheathes?"
"Yes," Rehgar said, "throwing knives are a good way to annoy an opponent you aren't fighting, opening them up for whoever is fighting them. If it actually sticks in, even better. I watch you during training, you throw your knives occasionally. This will keep you from losing your weapons. Would have used axes myself, though."
"Ok?" Valeera wrapped them around her thighs.
"Follow me," Rehgar turned without warning, walking toward the exit, "It's starting soon."
"What is?"
"Your first tournament," Rehgar said, "We won't have enough money to survive until Dire Maul with what we got, so you need to win."
"You signed us up for a tournament?" Valeera asked, before turning to Broll and Crocbait, "He can't do that, right?"
"Not only does he own two of us," Broll said, "He's also the team's Gladiator Master. So, yes. He can."
"It's low intensity anyways," Rehgar said, "killing is to be avoided, and gladiators are free to surrender at any point. I don't need to lose you before Dire Maul. Here's how the cut is going to work if you win. I take sixty, ten percent goes to keeping you fed, each of you gets ten percent."
"You're paying us?"
"I always pay my gladiators," Rehgar said.
Ruby had mentioned something about that, but Valeera had thought it had been her lying. What kind of slaver paid his slaves?
"So we're going in?"
"And winning. Otherwise none of us are eating tonight."
----
"This is too easy," Crocbait said as the semi-finalists they had been fighting were dragged out of the arena, unconscious, "why not give us a challenge?"
"Don't complain," Broll said, somehow speaking Common despite being in the form of a bear, "We'll be done soon."
"But where's the fun in that?" Crocbait threw up one of his swords, catching it as he waited for the last team to come up.
If the church pushed back the wolf inside, here, in this arena, it was like they were one. He could hardly wait for the next team.
"Well," the commentator, a goblin, was talking into a cone that amplified his voice, "I don't think anyone here saw this coming. Though we probably should have," laughter from throughout the crowd, "I mean, really. A team trained by Rehgar Earthfury? How did any of us think they would lose? Rehgar, how much money do you think you made tonight?"
"More than enough," Rehgar called from his place in their corner.
"Which means a fair amount," the commentator continued, "So, everyone ready?"
Cheers from the crowd.
"I said, IS EVERYONE READY?" Crocbait jumped as the goblin suddenly bellowed into the cone. The crowd roared in response, "that's what I thought! It's time for the match you've been waiting all night for! Rehgar's Raging Raiders-"
"We need a better name," Valeera said.
"-versus the Demons of Death!"
Crocbait snorted, "It's better then that."
Out of the other gate stepped three undead, and Crocbait took a moment to examine them. He heard Valeera tighten her grip on her daggers, the leather creaking as she swallowed loudly.
At the head was an undead that was more bone than flesh. A few scraps of skin and muscle clung to the skeleton which was dragging a large sword behind it a chitterering noise coming from its throat as it crawled towards them.
The next was wearing torn black robes, tufts of black hair hanging from grey skin. In one hand he held a gnarled black staff, and the other a skull.
The final one was the only female, or, at least the only one Crocbait could identify as such. In her hand was a bow, a quiver across the leathers she was wearing.
"Broll," Crocbait said under his breath, "you deal with the skeleton, Valeera, the mage. I'll deal with the archer."
"Got it," Valeera lifted her daggers.
"Three! Two! One!" the commentator paused for a second, "Begin!"
Crocbait charged as the archer draw back her bowstring, the blunted arrowhead directed at Broll. Before Crocbait could reach her, the arrow flew past him, causing Broll to roar in pain.
Before she could draw a second arrow, Crocbait reached her, swinging one of the blades he had gotten from Hyku at her.
She ducked under it, smacking the bow into his gut and drawing a shortsword from a sheath under her cloak. Crocbait span his left hand sword around, blocking the attack.
He pushed her back, attacking with his right hand sword as she staggered. The blade tore into her leathers, a greenish liquid covering the tip of his blade.
"You're pretty good," she said, "better than most people we see down here."
"I can tell," Crocbait said, "I was hoping for a challenge."
"At this level? Not likely. All we got is idiots who can't tell their scabbard from the blade inside it," Crocbait dodged another bow strike, "I knew we should have ducked out when Earthfury showed up with a team."
Crocbait smacked her in the face, "so why didn't you?"
"Needed the money. Didn't want to go tomb diving."
"Isn't there some fight brewing in the south?"
"Maybe," she shrugged, "don't care. Krang!"
Kran-?
Crocbait dove out of the way of the charging skeleton, which snarled at him like a dog.
"I can't believe you'd think you wouldn't focus on the-"
Before she could finish, Broll smashed into her from behind, roaring as he tried to savage her.
Crap. Broll's rage was acting up again.
"Broll!" Crocbait grabbed the druid, struggling to pull him off the archer, "Broll! Calm down-"
Crocbait hissed as two arrows smacked into his side, looking down at the archer.
That bitch.
Red seemed to leak into Crocbait's vision as he let go of Broll. Crocbait yanked his swords from the ground as started to walk towards her.
She seemed to realize how much she screwed up, bringing her fingers up and whistling. Krang charged from the right, and Crocbait carelessly swung his sword, smashing the bestial undead's skull off.
"I'm going to kill you," Crocbait growled, letting the wolf take over completely as he fell on the archer.
The last thing he remembered was her trying to to smash her bow into his face again, him grabbing it and snapping it easily.
The next thing he knew, he was being blasted onto his back, leaving him blinking at the ring's ceiling as the audience roared.
Pushing himself up, Crocbait blinked at his surroundings.
The undead warlock was dragging away the archer, who had one arm was barely hanging on and was missing her legs. Krang was completely dismantled, his bones being grabbed by a succubus and carried away.
Standing over Broll was Rehgar, who looked exasperated as the bear struggled under a wall of wind.
"Looks like we're going to go over restraint," the shaman said, "Maybe have you spend a couple days in the cells while Valeera is allowed to stay at the house, since she's the only one who didn't try to kill someone, when I know she doesn't like undead."
Crocbait gulped, the look on Rehgar's face making it clear whatever semblance of a good mood he had been had fled quickly.
"But Ruby'll probably bitch at me if I do that before she gets back," Rehgar continued, "So I'll give you both a chance to make up for it by living in my house like normal people until then. Screw it up, and I'll beat some common sense into you during training."
---
Figured I'd post it now. We haven't had too much with Valeera and Broll, though they'll play a larger role next chapter (or, at least, Valeera will)
"Why are they green?"
"Metal used in them," Rehgar grunted in Common. Was he capable of speaking Common outside of grunts? "Don't know what, though. Ask Ruby when she gets here tomorrow."
Ruby was coming back? That explained why Rehgar seemed to be in a decent mood. Talking in Common more than he normally did, at least.
"Broll! What are you taking?"
The gladiators were in the Hall of Legends, a secret armory for gladiators, brimming with spoils of war in the form of weapons and armor from every known continent of Azeroth.
"This staff," Broll lifted up the carved piece of wood. It ended in a deer's head, two blue stones socketed in the eyes, "it must have been a druid's weapon at some point."
"What's with the deer?"
"The deer?" Broll bristled with anger, "the deer? This is in the likeness of Malorne, father of Cenarius and lover of Elune. He is one of the most import-"
"Don't care," Valeera turned away from Broll, smirking at the bear-like growl he gave, "Crocbait! How about you? What are you-? Crocbait, are you alright?"
Crocbait was holding a belt with a golden lion head at the front, looking at it wistfully.
"Crocbait? What's wrong, boy?" Valeera jumped as Rehgar pushed past her, planting a hand on Crocbait's arm, "you alright?"
"This seems familiar," Crocbait said, "and I don't know why."
"Hmm," Rehgar grunted again, "well, we'll look into it later. You taking it?"
"Yeah," Crocbait ran a hand along the belt, "yeah."
"What's this all about, anyways? I thought we still had a bit till Dire Maul," Valeera caught her knives, getting used to the weight if them.
"We do," Rehgar threw something at her, "but something came up."
Valeera grabbed the two red items out of the air, checking them out, "sheathes?"
"Yes," Rehgar said, "throwing knives are a good way to annoy an opponent you aren't fighting, opening them up for whoever is fighting them. If it actually sticks in, even better. I watch you during training, you throw your knives occasionally. This will keep you from losing your weapons. Would have used axes myself, though."
"Ok?" Valeera wrapped them around her thighs.
"Follow me," Rehgar turned without warning, walking toward the exit, "It's starting soon."
"What is?"
"Your first tournament," Rehgar said, "We won't have enough money to survive until Dire Maul with what we got, so you need to win."
"You signed us up for a tournament?" Valeera asked, before turning to Broll and Crocbait, "He can't do that, right?"
"Not only does he own two of us," Broll said, "He's also the team's Gladiator Master. So, yes. He can."
"It's low intensity anyways," Rehgar said, "killing is to be avoided, and gladiators are free to surrender at any point. I don't need to lose you before Dire Maul. Here's how the cut is going to work if you win. I take sixty, ten percent goes to keeping you fed, each of you gets ten percent."
"You're paying us?"
"I always pay my gladiators," Rehgar said.
Ruby had mentioned something about that, but Valeera had thought it had been her lying. What kind of slaver paid his slaves?
"So we're going in?"
"And winning. Otherwise none of us are eating tonight."
----
"This is too easy," Crocbait said as the semi-finalists they had been fighting were dragged out of the arena, unconscious, "why not give us a challenge?"
"Don't complain," Broll said, somehow speaking Common despite being in the form of a bear, "We'll be done soon."
"But where's the fun in that?" Crocbait threw up one of his swords, catching it as he waited for the last team to come up.
If the church pushed back the wolf inside, here, in this arena, it was like they were one. He could hardly wait for the next team.
"Well," the commentator, a goblin, was talking into a cone that amplified his voice, "I don't think anyone here saw this coming. Though we probably should have," laughter from throughout the crowd, "I mean, really. A team trained by Rehgar Earthfury? How did any of us think they would lose? Rehgar, how much money do you think you made tonight?"
"More than enough," Rehgar called from his place in their corner.
"Which means a fair amount," the commentator continued, "So, everyone ready?"
Cheers from the crowd.
"I said, IS EVERYONE READY?" Crocbait jumped as the goblin suddenly bellowed into the cone. The crowd roared in response, "that's what I thought! It's time for the match you've been waiting all night for! Rehgar's Raging Raiders-"
"We need a better name," Valeera said.
"-versus the Demons of Death!"
Crocbait snorted, "It's better then that."
Out of the other gate stepped three undead, and Crocbait took a moment to examine them. He heard Valeera tighten her grip on her daggers, the leather creaking as she swallowed loudly.
At the head was an undead that was more bone than flesh. A few scraps of skin and muscle clung to the skeleton which was dragging a large sword behind it a chitterering noise coming from its throat as it crawled towards them.
The next was wearing torn black robes, tufts of black hair hanging from grey skin. In one hand he held a gnarled black staff, and the other a skull.
The final one was the only female, or, at least the only one Crocbait could identify as such. In her hand was a bow, a quiver across the leathers she was wearing.
"Broll," Crocbait said under his breath, "you deal with the skeleton, Valeera, the mage. I'll deal with the archer."
"Got it," Valeera lifted her daggers.
"Three! Two! One!" the commentator paused for a second, "Begin!"
Crocbait charged as the archer draw back her bowstring, the blunted arrowhead directed at Broll. Before Crocbait could reach her, the arrow flew past him, causing Broll to roar in pain.
Before she could draw a second arrow, Crocbait reached her, swinging one of the blades he had gotten from Hyku at her.
She ducked under it, smacking the bow into his gut and drawing a shortsword from a sheath under her cloak. Crocbait span his left hand sword around, blocking the attack.
He pushed her back, attacking with his right hand sword as she staggered. The blade tore into her leathers, a greenish liquid covering the tip of his blade.
"You're pretty good," she said, "better than most people we see down here."
"I can tell," Crocbait said, "I was hoping for a challenge."
"At this level? Not likely. All we got is idiots who can't tell their scabbard from the blade inside it," Crocbait dodged another bow strike, "I knew we should have ducked out when Earthfury showed up with a team."
Crocbait smacked her in the face, "so why didn't you?"
"Needed the money. Didn't want to go tomb diving."
"Isn't there some fight brewing in the south?"
"Maybe," she shrugged, "don't care. Krang!"
Kran-?
Crocbait dove out of the way of the charging skeleton, which snarled at him like a dog.
"I can't believe you'd think you wouldn't focus on the-"
Before she could finish, Broll smashed into her from behind, roaring as he tried to savage her.
Crap. Broll's rage was acting up again.
"Broll!" Crocbait grabbed the druid, struggling to pull him off the archer, "Broll! Calm down-"
Crocbait hissed as two arrows smacked into his side, looking down at the archer.
That bitch.
Red seemed to leak into Crocbait's vision as he let go of Broll. Crocbait yanked his swords from the ground as started to walk towards her.
She seemed to realize how much she screwed up, bringing her fingers up and whistling. Krang charged from the right, and Crocbait carelessly swung his sword, smashing the bestial undead's skull off.
"I'm going to kill you," Crocbait growled, letting the wolf take over completely as he fell on the archer.
The last thing he remembered was her trying to to smash her bow into his face again, him grabbing it and snapping it easily.
The next thing he knew, he was being blasted onto his back, leaving him blinking at the ring's ceiling as the audience roared.
Pushing himself up, Crocbait blinked at his surroundings.
The undead warlock was dragging away the archer, who had one arm was barely hanging on and was missing her legs. Krang was completely dismantled, his bones being grabbed by a succubus and carried away.
Standing over Broll was Rehgar, who looked exasperated as the bear struggled under a wall of wind.
"Looks like we're going to go over restraint," the shaman said, "Maybe have you spend a couple days in the cells while Valeera is allowed to stay at the house, since she's the only one who didn't try to kill someone, when I know she doesn't like undead."
Crocbait gulped, the look on Rehgar's face making it clear whatever semblance of a good mood he had been had fled quickly.
"But Ruby'll probably bitch at me if I do that before she gets back," Rehgar continued, "So I'll give you both a chance to make up for it by living in my house like normal people until then. Screw it up, and I'll beat some common sense into you during training."
---
Figured I'd post it now. We haven't had too much with Valeera and Broll, though they'll play a larger role next chapter (or, at least, Valeera will)
Last edited:
Chapter 7
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Preemptively, yes, I had to use that meme. If you're a Legion player, you'll know exactly what I mean.
---
Ruby did her best to stomp as loudly as possible as her and Blake made it back to the Valley of Honor, to let Rehgar know she was back and not happy about his teasing.
"What did he even say?" Blake asked.
"Don't worry about it," Ruby said, hedging around the question, "It's complicated."
Dust and Spirits was that an understatement. Relationships were complicated. Even telling if she wanted to be in a relationship was complicated. She thought she did, but she wasn't sure. Even if she was, how was she supposed to go about asking Blake?
She abandoned that chain of thought for the moment, pushing open the door to the house, "Rehgar! That wasn't fun-!"
Ruby stared at Valeera, who was seated on the couch's back, half way through tearing open a Hearthstone pack and a candy bar hanging from her mouth. The Blood Elf stared at her in turn, before raising one hand and waving.
"Ruby, why'd you stop?"
Ruby shuffled to the side, letting Blake into the room. Valeera's eyes widened as she took in Blake, before she threw the cards onto the coffee table, taking out the chocolate bar as she slid onto the couch's seat.
"Hi."
Well, this was beyond awkward.
"Uh… Hi?" Blake's eyebrows shot up, "Who are you?"
"Valeera Sanguinar. Who are you?"
"Blake Belladonna. And really, Sanguinar?"
"What? It's my name!"
"Sanguine means blood," Blake said dryly, "like Blood Elf?"
"It does?" Valeera asked, looking startled, "Huh."
"Why are you here?" Blake asked.
"She's part of Rehgar's gladiator team. Where's Broll and Crocbait?"
"Crocbait?"
"Rehgar named him. He has amnesia and was fighting a crocolisk when I found him. He hasn't picked a new name out, has he?" Ruby walked into the kitchen, throwing open one of the cabinets, "Where'd you put those-?"
"No. They went to meet Rehgar at some bar. They wouldn't let me come along."
"Weird," Ruby said, continuing to search the kitchen, crouching under the island that divided it from the main room and opening the door there, "but you can hang out with us, eh?"
"You aren't going to meet with them?"
"I don't drink much," A tankard here and there was nearly unavoidable, but Ruby had never been as habitual a drinker as Bloodeye, or even Yang, "Aha!" Ruby sprang to her feat, a grin on her face as she found her prize. Fire unleashed a sear of amusement as Ruby cradled her loot.
"What's in there?" Valeera had grabbed the Hearthstone pack she had been opening.
"Cookies!"
"Rehgar has a cookie jar?" Blake asked.
"Blake," Ruby chided as she popped the lid off, "I live here. Of course there's a cookie jar. Want one, Valeera?"
"Sure. Want to open a pack?" Valeera held out one.
"Ok," Ruby traded with her, "you like Hearthstone?"
"Yeah," Valeera tore open another pack, shifting through the fifteen cards, "I have a big collection."
"Have?" Ruby asked. She hadn't lost them?
"I know how to hide stuff," Valeera said, "do you play any?"
"A bit. Bloodeye got me into it."
"What about you- Uh…?"
"Blake," Blake repeated, "No. I never had the money."
"Neither did I," Valeera said around the cookie, "didn't stop me from collecting them."
"Rehgar's paying you well?"
"Yeah. I thought you were joking," Valeera grabbed another cookie from the jar, "I can't remember the last time I had this much money. Want to play a round or two?"
"If you want to," Ruby said around another cookie.
"Shouldn't we get something to eat first?" Blake asked suddenly, "It's getting late."
Ruby looked outside. The shadows were starting to grow long, and she saw guards walking around, lighting torches, "There's an inn down the way called The Wyvern's Tail. Me and Bloodeye would go there when Rehgar was busy."
"So Rehgar also cooks?"
"He cooks pork too much," Valeera complained, "please tell me they cook something other than pork."
"They normally do."
"Ok!" Valeera hopped up, "I'll go get my boots on!"
Ruby looked over at Blake, who had snorted, "What?"
"Don't worry about it," Blake said, "is there a bathroom?"
"End of the hall."
"Thanks," Blake stepped around the couch, only to look down with a frown, "Valeera! How many candy bars did you eat?"
"Not that many!" Valeera called back.
Ruby poked her head over the back, frowning at the pile of candy wrappers on the floor, "we might want to clean those up before Rehgar get's back."
"Ok," Blake picked up a couple, throwing them in the trash as she walked towards the bathroom, "'Not that many' she says. There has to be at least ten," Blake's grumblings faded as she got further from Ruby's earshot.
---
Xia sat in her quarters, breathing in slowly as she meditated. With each exhale she unleashed a pulse of Chi, and took some from her surroundings with each inhale. She would be leaving soon, but she needed to clear her mind.
Despite it being her idea, departing the academy wasn't something she could do easily. She had spent her entire life within the walls or the countryside immediately around them.
She could do this. She had to do this. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't try.
Xia let her eyes drift open at the knock on her shoji, "Yes?"
The panel slid to the side, allowing the pandaren into the room, "Is it true?"
"Is what true, Aysa?"
"You're leaving?" the teenaged Tushui asked.
"At least for a bit, yes," in standard fashion, somehow a private conversion had leaked out in a matter of hours.
"Some of the younger students are talking about how strange it will be without you here," Aysa said with a nod, "you're as much a part of the academy as the Master and instructors to them."
"That's not true," Xia said, "I'm just a student, the same as them."
"You were here when they arrived," Aysa said, "I suppose they believed you would always be here."
Xia signed, "Maybe I will, one day. But I need to go out there. To learn about the world and myself."
"Master Feng's scrolls reprimand against such actions. You can discover such things through meditation, Xia."
Xia had spent the last two years trying the Tushui method. Crane style taolu and meditation every day, Chi meditation every night, and still nothing to show for it. No answers of who she was, or who had wanted her dead enough to poison her.
It was time to try the Huojin method. To act, instead of wait. To question the world until it gave her an answer. Xia's lips tightened as she became sure of her path.
"I need to do this, Aysa," Xia grabbed her swords from their place, clipping the sheathes to her belt.
"Just," Aysa sounded tired, "come back safe, ok?"
"Of course," Xua said, walking around the room as she tried to think of things she might need.
There wasn't much. Xia didn't own much to begin with. Her swords and the locket were her only possessions of any real value. Xia flicked open the locket again, staring at the blurred people in it. They were children, that much she could tell, but whose? Hers? Did she have kids who were missing the mother they lost? Were they her cousins? Her and a forgotten friend as children? She couldn't tell.
"Master Sheng Xi wanted to speak with you at the gates before you leave," Aysa said, "He had a gift for you."
A gift?
"I'll go meet him then," Xia snapped the locket shut and stepped out of the room, walking the short distance to the gates.
"Xia," Sheng Xi's eyes crinkled again as he leaned on his staff, another beside him, "prepared to head out?"
"Almost. Aysa had said you wanted to see me, Master?"
"Yes," Sheng Xi grabbed the second staff, "I can't give you much for your journey, but you should have a staff. It takes some of the pressure off after a long day's travel, and hold your lantern if you travel at night."
Xia took the staff reverently, running her thumb along the grooved bamboo, "Thank you, master."
"Think nothing of it," he said, "Xia, if you happen to head towards Mandori Village, would you tell Chon Po Stormstout I would like to speak with him?"
"Of course," Xia took the hint readily. She hardly knew the Isle, so some form of heading was helpful.
"Then I will see you when you return," he said simply, using his staff to push open the gates.
"The same to you, Master," Xia said as she stepped out of the gates and onto the road. As the doors shut behind her, the mistweaver took the first step on her journey as she breathing in the autumn air.
There was a small village an hour's walk from the academy, Wu-Song. It was the furthest Xia had been from her home, and was better than being completely lost.
---
Valeera trailed slightly behind Ruby and Blake, eyes trailing downward as they went.
Blake was… interesting. Really interesting.
"So Rehgar's been treating you well?" Ruby asked.
"Me? Yeah. He's not happy with Broll and Croc though," Valeera could honestly say she hadn't been treated this well since her parents died.
Kinda ironic that being made a slave was one of the best things to happen to her, but she supposed that when the bar was against 'losing your parents in a bandit attack' 'your home being sacked by undead' and 'being forced to steal to survive', it would be hard for things to get worse.
"Why?"
"They freak out during our first tournament," an understatement, "smashed one of the other guys to bits and cut up another."
Valeera was all for kicking the crap out of the undead, they probably deserved it, but the rampage Crocbait and Broll were gearing up for could have been bad.
They'd lost a chunk of money to pay for repairing Krang and Roxana. How much more would they have lost if Rehgar hadn't stepped in?
At least Rehgar had taken it from Broll and Crocbait's share.
"They killed people?" Blake asked sounding horrified.
"Undead. They put them back together."
"Still," Ruby said, "that doesn't seem normal. Any idea why?"
"Broll mentioned something about a curse," Valeera continued to watch Blake move, "No idea with Crocbait though."
"Rehgar can probably deal with it if it's a curse," Ruby said confidently, "that's one of the things Shaman are good at, curses."
"Wouldn't that be warlocks?" Valeera asked.
"Less harmful ones," Ruby clarified, "turning people into frogs, making them speak in tongues. Also, getting rid of curses, which Warlocks don't do often. They're petty like that."
"Why would Shaman know how to do those things?"
"Because we can be petty if we need to," Ruby said.
"Need to?" Blake asked.
"There are places sacred to the Elements and Ancestors. We are their voice, so if they decide to be petty, we are expected to be petty for them. Of course, me and Rehgar don't have ancestors to be petty for, so it's just the Elements."
"You don't have ancestors?" Valeera blurted out, "How the heck is that even possible?"
Ruby and Blake turned towards her, and Valeera hastily snapped her eyes up before they could see where she had been looking. She had gotten weird looks for her interests since Quel'thalas, even if back then it had been written off as 'just a kid thing'.
"Rehgar doesn't know what clan he's from," Ruby said, "which is as good as not having one, really. Used to be shameful back before the Crossing, but now it's more common. We're here, by the way."
'Here' was a long two story building made from wood and metal with several chimneys. The sign had an image of a snarling wyvern in red, the tail tipped with green. Valeera ducked in with Ruby, looking around.
The inside was more uniformly wood, by which she meant it was lined with it. Not a scrap of metal in sight, though the chimneys led to stone fireplaces that lit the room up. Fur rugs sat in front of each fireplace, and the ones closest to the door had people seated on them. In the center of the room was a large fire pit, with spits holding different animals and stews hanging over them. Along the back wall was a bar that had several orcs, tauren and trolls around it.
"One sec," Ruby ducked away from them, heading towards the bar.
She walked to an orcish woman talking with the troll behind the bar. As Ruby approached, the trolls face got serious and he reached out to the woman, tapping her on the shoulder as he said something.
The woman span, a look of shock on her face as she put down her tankard. When Ruby got within arms length, she latched onto the human, dragging her over to the bar.
"What's going on?" Blake asked under her breath.
"Dunno," Valeera said.
The troll pulled out an extra pair of tankards, pouring something into them from a keg in the back, and pushed one into Ruby's hands, ignoring her shaking her head and, presumably, refusing it as he did. Ruby stopped as the orc and troll raised their cups and joined in. Each of them downed the alcohol in one go, though with much coughing and spluttering afterwards on Ruby's part. The orc smacked her arm into Ruby's back as she bent over, hacking so loudly she could be heard from Valeera's place. She noticed Blake twitch slightly, and her bow shift.
Once Ruby recovered, there was a brief conversation that ended with Ruby being handed three plates and two more tankards and being directed to the nearest rug. Ruby gestured for Valeera and Blake to come over.
"What was that about?" Valeera asked.
"Nufa and Gravy," Ruby said as she handed each of them a plate, "they knew Bloodeye pretty well. He used to come here every day when we were in Orgrimmar. We hadn't seen each other since he died."
"Ah," Blake said, "are you alright?"
"Yeah," Ruby rubbed her neck, first the front, then the point where it met her right shoulder, "kinda wish I didn't drink that stuff, though. Grab some food, they said it's on the house tonight."
"We just grab whatever we want?" Valeera eyed the dear on one of the spits. She hadn't had venison in years. Not since…
"Yep," Ruby popped the P, "That's why it's normally kinda expensive to eat here. Buffets, right?" The last part was probably directed at Blake.
"Right," Valeera agreed, walking towards a metal pot holding knives that were probably for cutting the food off the whole.
She was going to eat so much. Who knows when the next time she was getting something that wasn't pork was, right?
---
Rehgar grunted as he continued to try and unravel the curse around Broll. Wisps of shadowy magic lashed around the ritual as he did, and the Fel taint roared through the area.
The shaman didn't so much as flinch as the raging druid smashed into the wall of wind around the ritual. The bear was covered in a crackling layer of Fel energy, and each strike added more trails of chaotic green energy.
Rehgar growled as the first layer of wind faded, the Fel disrupting the pattern too much for it to stay together. A couple of effortless words in Kalimag shifted the next layer forward and formed a new one in the back.
"Whoever made this curse really didn't want it undone," Rehgar muttered under his breath, grabbing at another strand of Fel and trying to remove it.
It didn't help matters that Rehgar only had two tricks with the Wilds he was good at, and neither involved the removal of curses. It just wasn't something he did, and unlike Ruby, there wasn't an easy way to pawn Broll off on another shaman.
"Come on, Bearmantle, don't make this harder than it needs to be," Rehgar said in orcish, "you were already refusing to tell me how you got cursed in the first place, which would make this a lot easier."
Maybe Broll wasn't so far gone, because Rehgar found a path into Broll's mind at that moment.
Demons and undead, Malorne's killer at the head. Marching for Hyjal, for Nordrassil. Hands tightened on a dragon shaped Idol, a failure, a broken promise. Rehgar could feel the Wilds radiating from it.
Rage.
Malfurion asked for volunteers to bolster the Sentinels and Wardens. He stepped forward willingly, Anessa hardly a second behind, grabbing a Sentinels' moonglaive. She had been practicing while he slept.
Worry. Pride.
On the slopes of Hyjal, watching as the unending tide undead and demons smashed through the encampment made by the humans, and his small force is overrun by an army, a pit lord at their head. Anessa slashed wide as two men fall.
Rage.
His mouth fell open, a roar carrying a message across the forest around them as he tapped into something deep within for the first time. Roused by his roar, the trees uprooted themselves to fight against the demons while he charged at the pit lord.
Claws raked through toughened hide, branches twisting to dig into the wounds pouring Fel tainted blood, but the Pit Lord was larger, and smashed him back. The idol rolls forward as Anessa ran toward him.
"Look," the pit lord's tusked maw twisted into a mocking grin, "the mortal lost its toy," the two bladed sword swung down towards the idol, which roared like the dragon it was carved into, "it makes noises when you break it! How-"
Anessa's glave flew through the air, gouging out one of the pit lord's eyes as she ran toward them, "Father! Father, ru-"
The idol exploded as the pit lord's blade struck the wellspring of life energy within, the Fel created consuming Anessa in seconds.
Horror.
Rage.
He distantly heard the horn sounding their victory through the haze of anger. When he roared this time, the world bended and twisted to his favor, vines the size of tree trunks wrapping around the pit lord as he tore into it.
Rage.
With each bite, he felt an animal flee him. First the seal-
Rage.
-then the panther slinked away-
Rage.
-the crow took flight-
Rage.
-and finally, with great hesitation, taking almost ten bites after the crow left, the stag sadly bounded away, leaving only the bear.
Rage.
...Abandonment.
Rehgar staggered back as he snapped back to reality, slamming six layers of wind between him and Broll to replace the ones that had shattered during the connection. Slowly, Rehgar dispersed the ritual, just before it broke, he found a tiny string of Fel energy pouring into Broll from in the distance.
This wasn't something he could remove, not without the idol and certainly not without Broll cooperating.
As Rehgar waited for Broll to come down from his Fel rage, he turned to Crocbait, "your turn, boy. Come on."
"What about Broll?"
"He'll be fine," Rehgar said, "it will just take more to get rid of that curse. I need something, I'll probably send Ruby-"
Shit.
Ruby wasn't his apprentice anymore. He couldn't send her anywhere under the guise of training.
Shit. Though she might still do if he explained a bit of what was going on. She had always been a bleeding heart.
He supposed that when he inevitably got himself killed, he would at least be able to say he helped make the world a better place in some way.
"-to get it after her birthday," Rehgar finished. Shit, he had forgotten to get stuff for that. Ruby took birthdays, or as close as could be approximated for most of them, very seriously. Even more than she did Winter Veil, "come on, boy."
"We're not even sure if there's anything wrong with me," Crocbait protested, but sat down nonetheless.
"After what you did in that arena?" Rehgar asked dryly, planting a hand on each side of Crocbait's head, "Boy, that wasn't any natural response. Somethings up, now be quiet and let me figure out what."
Rehgar drew on the Wilds again, using it to connect with Crocbait's being to see if there was anything wrong. It didn't take long.
"Yep," Rehgar blamed Ruby for getting him to pick up that, "there's defiantly something wrong with you, boy."
"Oh, thanks," Crocbait winced, "like what?"
"Like someone tore your damn soul in half," Rehgar said bluntly.
And whoever had done it hadn't been particularly clean about it. Just enough that it was clear it had been done with purpose, though Rehgar couldn't figure out what.
"Is that bad?"
"Well, it's not something I can fix without knowing where the hell the other half is," Rehgar said, "but you won't die from it, life finds a way. Your control will probably get better the longer from the injury you are. Still, I feel bad for the other half of you."
"Why?"
"Because if you got all the anger, they're probably a fucking coward."
"But I'm in control most of the time."
"Then they're probably also weak willed," which meant, "whoever did this probably wants to control the other you. A cowardly, spineless loser would be easy to manipulate."
"Are you going out of your way to insult me?"
"I'm not insulting you, I'm insulting Other You," Rehgar said as he kicked Broll in the ribs, waking him up, "come on, I want to go get drunk."
---
Anduin slid on the quiver, grabbed his bow, nocked the arrow, and after a moment to adjust the traj- trajec- the way it would go fired it off.
It flew less than a hundred yards before trailing off and impacting against the side of the castle wall.
Anduin reeled in the arrow, staring grumpily at the rope around its haft.
"Not quite what you were planning, my prince?"
"Master Shaw!" Anduin span around, "you came!"
"Who am I to refuse the prince's request to see me?" the leader of SI:7 asked, the golden armor he normally wore in Stormwind replace with a set of black leathers, a hood pulled over his auburn hair, "though, in the future, I would suggest not trying to skip out to meeting through elaborate archery tricks, especially not ones you set up."
"I was going to find you," Anduin said, "I wasn't sure you would actually come."
"Normally I wouldn't have," Mathias said as shut and locked the door and walked to the window, peering out it before shutting and latching it, "but many things aren't normal at the moment, are they?"
"You noticed too?" Anduin asked in relief. Everyone had been acting like this was normal.
"Which, that your father's personality changed almost overnight? That Lord Fordragon didn't wait more than a month before writing his friend off as dead and placing you upon the throne? That I couldn't seem to find mention of a House Prestor anywhere before Daval Prestor appeared during the Second War claiming to be related to the Alteraci royal family? It is my job to notice these things, my prince. I'm honestly surprised you did."
"It's not like it isn't obvious," Anduin said, "that's not how my father acts. Spending all this gold on feasts and parties without a care for the people. Bolvar tries to help, but all that happens is father reverses it."
"Quite right," Mathias gave a grim smile, "if you weren't the heir to the throne, I'd say you could make a good agent one day. And it wasn't a slight against your intelligence, my prince, but that I strongly suspect that Prestor," Anduin noticed Mathias conspicuously refusing to call her 'lady', "is a sorceress. She's had the House of Nobles dancing to her song since before you were born, and you might not remember it, but you were the same during your time on the throne. Even I struggle when speaking with her. It was her idea to short change the Stonemasons, and from what I can find, Daval was similarly able to convince notoriously stubborn men to give up their preferred claimant to the Alteraci throne to name him king."
"If you're correct," Anduin made note to ask Master Sheaf about Daval during his next lesson, "that would mean Lady Prestor is responsible for the death of my mother?"
Anduin's grip on his bow tightened, anger at the thought bubbling up as he stared at the portrait of his mother handing opposite his bed.
"By proxy, at the very least," Mathias said, "but in my line of work, that is as good as swinging the knife yourself. I knew Edwin VanCleef, my prince, we were best friends in our youth. He would never demand as much as he did under the right mind."
"You think she have manipulated them too?"
"Very much so. Whether the riot ending in your mother's death was the intended goal, or just an accident she capitalized on, I can't be sure at the moment," Mathias said, a dark look coming over his face, "permission to be candid, my lord?"
Anduin blinked at the question, he hasn't been candid before? "You may."
"I strongly suspect that Prestor's goal is nothing less than the destruction of Stormwind, both as a city and a kingdom."
"Why? She has control of the house of nobles and my father, why would she want to destroy it?"
"She betrayed us to the Horde, Burning Legion, or another organization that wants Stormwind to burn? She likes power, that much is clear. Nonetheless, any time SI:7, or indeed, anyone else comes to Stormwind with reports of danger in our lands, she urges him to not send support for a lack of evidence. This includes when men march into the keep maimed by the orcs, talking of those who weren't so lucky. When I send agents in against her wishes and verify that these are not one off incidents, as she claims, she writes it off as us seeing what we want to see and SI:7 being 'paranoidal'," Mathias sneered, "in short, my lord, I think we have the most idiotic traitor on the face of Azeroth in our midsts, who is only keeping her position by blatantly bewitching the nobles, and the only reason I haven't dragged her down to SI:7 headquarters is because I would most likely be declared a traitor myself before the first hint of blood touched the knife."
Anduin flinched at the subtle reference to torture. It wasn't something he even began to approve of. Steeling himself, the ten year old gulped, "so we need to find evidence of her betrayal first. Evidence she can't refute."
"Indeed," Mathias said, "say the word, and I will deploy SI:7 agents throughout Azeroth to look into this matter."
"Can we be sure they won't betray us to Prestor?"
"Yes," Mathias nodded, "I will use my most loyal agents for this job, up to and including myself, if the need arises."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? If you die out there, Prestor will be able to name a new head of SI:7."
"Don't you mean your father will be able to name a new head?"
"Are those words not one and the same at the moment?" Anduin responded instantly.
"You are incredibly smart for a ten year old," Mathias said, "Yes, they are the same. However, do not worry about me, my lord. I didn't get to be the head of Stormwind Intelligence by being easy to discover. In fact, you and I are the only people aware of the fact I am in the keep at the moment."
Anduin knew exactly why Mathias had said that. The Stormwind keep was the single most guarded place on Azeroth. According to Master Sheaf, not even the Horde's warchief was so well defended. Dignitaries from every human kingdom and Alliance nation rested here, so it had to be.
"Then do it, spymaster," Anduin straightened his back, "I want the threat to my kingdom exposed and eliminated, as quickly as possible."
Mathias smirked, giving a cross between a bow and a nod, "as you command, my lord."
Then he opened Anduin's window and calmly stepped out of it. Anduin lunged forward, looking down and preparing to see the body of Mathias Shaw.
Instead, he watched as Mathias lept from dormer to dormer, like they were just particularly large stairs, until he was far enough down to leap onto the ground and disappear into the bushes.
Anduin looked at his arrow, before undoing the rope from around it and returned it to his quiver, "That's the last time I listen to the bard," Anduin grumbled as he threw away the rope, "'Aye milord, I saw it with my own eyes!' No he didn't."
---
"Sir!"
Zur'ak looked up from where he was studying a map of Silithus, Un'goro, and Tanaris as the orc shaman gave a salute, "What? I be busy."
"I'm sorry, but there's a troll asking for you."
"Don't care," Zur'ak returned to his map, examining the map in front of him, "I don't have time ta waste on some random troll-"
"They said they're from the Zandalar tribe?" the orc said, recoiling as Zur'ak's head snapped back up to look at him, the Firefist's orange mane covering his eyes for a moment, "I'm sorry, they said that would-"
"Send dem in," Zur'ak said, "Send dem in, now."
"They said that you were to meet with them," the orc said weakly, "at the dunes to the south."
Of course they had. Never trust a Zandalari to make things easy when it could be done by making someone else jump through twenty hoops.
"Den I will go meet dem," Zur'ak grabbed his gauntlets and starting the process to get them on, "and ya can stay 'ere and tell anyone who comes lookin' for me where I am, understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Zur'ak stomped out of his tent into the sun, turning towards the south as he continued to adjust the straps and buckles to keep his weapons on. Right hand first, in case things went wrong before he got there. It seemed to be how the day was going.
Zandalari, here? Damn it all.
Zur'ak gave a nasty grin as he finished putting on the gauntlet, hearing its hum. Rehgar had been right, the Rose girl wasn't half bad at forging. Not as good as the masters of Zuldazar, but those bastards seemed to be able to live for too long.
It took another ten minutes for Zur'ak to climb the dunes, scowling at the straight backed troll staring to the south, he spoke in Zandali, "What do you want, Zandalari?"
The troll turned towards him, staring down through the eyes of his mask. Zur'ak ran through his brief knowledge of Zandalari loa to figure out who he was speaking to. Wasn't Bwonsamdi, that one was easy, as it didn't look anything like a rush'kah mask (or, rather, it didn't bear the likeness of Bwonsamdi's face all rush'kah masks were made to invoke). Zanza? No, Zanza's masks ended in a rounded curve, while this was a sharp point. Hir'eek was out too, his masks had two long flares on the side to represent a bat's wings. He didn't see the silk tassels of Shadra either. The only identifying features were a pair of extra tusks and the top ending in a set of jagged points.
"You are… Zur'ak?" the Zandalari asked.
"I am," Zur'ak said, enjoying speaking a language that was designed to work with the tusks jutting from his mouth, "and you are?"
"I am Grez'zul," the Zandalari gave a slight bow, "emissary of God King Rastakhan, Zuldazar, and the loa Grimath."
Zul as a suffix? Not wrong, but not common. Normally meant someone's parents thought a bit too highly of their kid and named them Zul, which would probably be headache inducing if any of them even did anything to warrant it. What would they be then, Zul'zul, or just keep it as Zul? The latter was normally shameful, however. Figuring out that mess would probably be one of the only times you'd actually want a Zandalari handy since clinging to dying traditions was all they were good for. He hadn't ever heard of Grimath though.
"I am Zur'ak of the Darkspear tribe, speaker for the Element five and Shango," Zur'ak returned the bow. As much as he hated those dying traditions, it was best to pay them service lest he anger the Zandalari, "It humbles me greatly to be before a servant of the great Rastakhan."
"You speak for six loa?" Grez'zul asked, "that is quite strange."
"We are a small tribe, and we lost many men very quickly," and it was odd for a shaman to focus on one element to the exclusion of all others.
"Ah, yes. From what I heard, Bwonsamdi kicked up quite a fuss about the loss of your offerings. Why was that?
"A traitor took our home from us. Turned our dead against us.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Grez'zul truly sounded like he was, "has your chieftain considered petitioning for support from Zandalar?"
"We don't need help from Zandalar," Zur'ak said shortly, "We have plenty of support from the Horde."
Grez'zul nodded, the point of his mask tapping his chest, "Yes, I had been informed that your tribe had entered an alliance with the Horde."
An alliance? They were part of the Horde, sworn brothers to the orcs, tauren, forsaken, hell, even those pretty boy blood elves. But then the Zandalari probably couldn't understand that, they were stuck in a time that had long since past.
"Why are you here?" Zur'ak asked.
"The loa have been uneasy, the temples are deathly silent, the voodoo has become weaker, the tiki warriors all look to Silithus and Zul speaks of a great calamity that could soon come to pass here. I have come to verify these claims. Tell me, do you think this is as bad as the loa say? Be truthful, you don't need to lie about this."
Zur'ak looked to the south, where the gates of Ahn'Qiraj were barely visible. The Scarab Wall itself stretched out as far as he could see, making it easier to locate, "I do. These bugs, they send swarms at us each day. If we don't get those gates open soon, they'll overrun us before we even have a chance to stop them. You can see one of the hives over there," Zur'ak pointed to Hive'Regal, watching the giant leg like stalks twitch and writhe, "The Night Elves speak of a war a thousand years ago, where they fought against the creatures. Do you know anything of that, man?
"No," Grez'zul said, "but the loa speak of a war before that. One where trollkind banded together as one empire to fight these creatures ancestors. If what you say is true, I fear we will be left with no choice to do so again," Grez'zul's eye locked onto him, "I will travel east, to Zul'Farrak and attempt to convince the Farraki to send aid this way before I return to Zuldazar, brother. Can you hold out that long?"
"I hope so," Zur'ak said.
"Then, if we do not meet again, may your soul ride the storms of Shango."
"And may Bwonsamdi take you to his Necropolis," without knowing what Grimath was loa of, that was the best response Zur'ak could give.
Grez'zul turned, to the east, walking down the slopes of Silithus.
"I hope you don't plan to walk to Zul'farrak!" Zur'ak called.
In response, Grez'zul reached out and grabbed a shimmer in the air, before ripping it back like a curtain. An illusion? What was he hiding?
A dinosaur. A horn jutted from the nose, and two above the eyes, with a crown of spikes at the top of its flat head. Strapped on its back was a chair with a pair of reins.
The Zandalari troll ran his hand along the red hide of the beast, before climbing up onto the chair and riding off.
Zur'ak marched down the dunes, muttering to himself, "We get raptors, they get those things. Zandalari always need to be better than the rest of us."
And where the hell were those mages? They were supposed to get here two weeks ago!
---
Woo boy, that one was fun to write (and hopefully fun to read). I'll admit not a lot got done in advancing the Silithus stuff, but I felt we needed a bit of time with the supporting cast.
Yeah, I made Valeera gay. Figured since the vast majority of the cast (who are interested in relationships) are either straight or bi (or, in Ruby's case, demisexual), I might as well add one. The fact that doesn't show any interest in men (unless that happens during He-Who-Was-Banished-To-The-Noncanon-Void comic issues) left me a bit of free reign on it. And preemptively, yes, I know Blizzard said Valeera was going to have a crush on Crocbait in the lead up to the comic, but it never actually shows up.
No Weiss and Yang this chapter (as you no doubt know). I wanted to get that scene with Zur'ak out because it was supposed to happen like, three chapters ago. What really ticks me off that I didn't do it then is it makes me look like I decided to use them because they're becoming playable in BtA, but it was actually specifically because of the Troll-Aqir War. In direct relation to that, I decided to have trolls ditch the accent when talking in Zandali.
That Anduin scene. God, I don't know. It was originally supposed to be him sneaking out to go hunting because he's a ten year old currently surrounded by nothing but bad role models, then Mathias showed up and went 'Hey! Spymaster here! We're going to not do that, and instead me and Anduin are gonna focus on breaking this wide open.' Kinda like Anduin and Magni do in canon, but with the added bonus Shaw's later existence as an actual character (as opposed to the generic guy standing around handing out rogue missions in Stormwind)
Like, that's kinda the problem with people telling me what to do. These characters don't give a crap what I want them to do. They'll follow the plan, but then the details get thrown out for how they want to act. Rehgar, Broll and Crocbait were supposed to be out getting drinks instead we jump to them and 'Nope! We're gonna be doing a ritual to try and purge Broll of his Fel corruption.'
---
Ruby did her best to stomp as loudly as possible as her and Blake made it back to the Valley of Honor, to let Rehgar know she was back and not happy about his teasing.
"What did he even say?" Blake asked.
"Don't worry about it," Ruby said, hedging around the question, "It's complicated."
Dust and Spirits was that an understatement. Relationships were complicated. Even telling if she wanted to be in a relationship was complicated. She thought she did, but she wasn't sure. Even if she was, how was she supposed to go about asking Blake?
She abandoned that chain of thought for the moment, pushing open the door to the house, "Rehgar! That wasn't fun-!"
Ruby stared at Valeera, who was seated on the couch's back, half way through tearing open a Hearthstone pack and a candy bar hanging from her mouth. The Blood Elf stared at her in turn, before raising one hand and waving.
"Ruby, why'd you stop?"
Ruby shuffled to the side, letting Blake into the room. Valeera's eyes widened as she took in Blake, before she threw the cards onto the coffee table, taking out the chocolate bar as she slid onto the couch's seat.
"Hi."
Well, this was beyond awkward.
"Uh… Hi?" Blake's eyebrows shot up, "Who are you?"
"Valeera Sanguinar. Who are you?"
"Blake Belladonna. And really, Sanguinar?"
"What? It's my name!"
"Sanguine means blood," Blake said dryly, "like Blood Elf?"
"It does?" Valeera asked, looking startled, "Huh."
"Why are you here?" Blake asked.
"She's part of Rehgar's gladiator team. Where's Broll and Crocbait?"
"Crocbait?"
"Rehgar named him. He has amnesia and was fighting a crocolisk when I found him. He hasn't picked a new name out, has he?" Ruby walked into the kitchen, throwing open one of the cabinets, "Where'd you put those-?"
"No. They went to meet Rehgar at some bar. They wouldn't let me come along."
"Weird," Ruby said, continuing to search the kitchen, crouching under the island that divided it from the main room and opening the door there, "but you can hang out with us, eh?"
"You aren't going to meet with them?"
"I don't drink much," A tankard here and there was nearly unavoidable, but Ruby had never been as habitual a drinker as Bloodeye, or even Yang, "Aha!" Ruby sprang to her feat, a grin on her face as she found her prize. Fire unleashed a sear of amusement as Ruby cradled her loot.
"What's in there?" Valeera had grabbed the Hearthstone pack she had been opening.
"Cookies!"
"Rehgar has a cookie jar?" Blake asked.
"Blake," Ruby chided as she popped the lid off, "I live here. Of course there's a cookie jar. Want one, Valeera?"
"Sure. Want to open a pack?" Valeera held out one.
"Ok," Ruby traded with her, "you like Hearthstone?"
"Yeah," Valeera tore open another pack, shifting through the fifteen cards, "I have a big collection."
"Have?" Ruby asked. She hadn't lost them?
"I know how to hide stuff," Valeera said, "do you play any?"
"A bit. Bloodeye got me into it."
"What about you- Uh…?"
"Blake," Blake repeated, "No. I never had the money."
"Neither did I," Valeera said around the cookie, "didn't stop me from collecting them."
"Rehgar's paying you well?"
"Yeah. I thought you were joking," Valeera grabbed another cookie from the jar, "I can't remember the last time I had this much money. Want to play a round or two?"
"If you want to," Ruby said around another cookie.
"Shouldn't we get something to eat first?" Blake asked suddenly, "It's getting late."
Ruby looked outside. The shadows were starting to grow long, and she saw guards walking around, lighting torches, "There's an inn down the way called The Wyvern's Tail. Me and Bloodeye would go there when Rehgar was busy."
"So Rehgar also cooks?"
"He cooks pork too much," Valeera complained, "please tell me they cook something other than pork."
"They normally do."
"Ok!" Valeera hopped up, "I'll go get my boots on!"
Ruby looked over at Blake, who had snorted, "What?"
"Don't worry about it," Blake said, "is there a bathroom?"
"End of the hall."
"Thanks," Blake stepped around the couch, only to look down with a frown, "Valeera! How many candy bars did you eat?"
"Not that many!" Valeera called back.
Ruby poked her head over the back, frowning at the pile of candy wrappers on the floor, "we might want to clean those up before Rehgar get's back."
"Ok," Blake picked up a couple, throwing them in the trash as she walked towards the bathroom, "'Not that many' she says. There has to be at least ten," Blake's grumblings faded as she got further from Ruby's earshot.
---
Xia sat in her quarters, breathing in slowly as she meditated. With each exhale she unleashed a pulse of Chi, and took some from her surroundings with each inhale. She would be leaving soon, but she needed to clear her mind.
Despite it being her idea, departing the academy wasn't something she could do easily. She had spent her entire life within the walls or the countryside immediately around them.
She could do this. She had to do this. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't try.
Xia let her eyes drift open at the knock on her shoji, "Yes?"
The panel slid to the side, allowing the pandaren into the room, "Is it true?"
"Is what true, Aysa?"
"You're leaving?" the teenaged Tushui asked.
"At least for a bit, yes," in standard fashion, somehow a private conversion had leaked out in a matter of hours.
"Some of the younger students are talking about how strange it will be without you here," Aysa said with a nod, "you're as much a part of the academy as the Master and instructors to them."
"That's not true," Xia said, "I'm just a student, the same as them."
"You were here when they arrived," Aysa said, "I suppose they believed you would always be here."
Xia signed, "Maybe I will, one day. But I need to go out there. To learn about the world and myself."
"Master Feng's scrolls reprimand against such actions. You can discover such things through meditation, Xia."
Xia had spent the last two years trying the Tushui method. Crane style taolu and meditation every day, Chi meditation every night, and still nothing to show for it. No answers of who she was, or who had wanted her dead enough to poison her.
It was time to try the Huojin method. To act, instead of wait. To question the world until it gave her an answer. Xia's lips tightened as she became sure of her path.
"I need to do this, Aysa," Xia grabbed her swords from their place, clipping the sheathes to her belt.
"Just," Aysa sounded tired, "come back safe, ok?"
"Of course," Xua said, walking around the room as she tried to think of things she might need.
There wasn't much. Xia didn't own much to begin with. Her swords and the locket were her only possessions of any real value. Xia flicked open the locket again, staring at the blurred people in it. They were children, that much she could tell, but whose? Hers? Did she have kids who were missing the mother they lost? Were they her cousins? Her and a forgotten friend as children? She couldn't tell.
"Master Sheng Xi wanted to speak with you at the gates before you leave," Aysa said, "He had a gift for you."
A gift?
"I'll go meet him then," Xia snapped the locket shut and stepped out of the room, walking the short distance to the gates.
"Xia," Sheng Xi's eyes crinkled again as he leaned on his staff, another beside him, "prepared to head out?"
"Almost. Aysa had said you wanted to see me, Master?"
"Yes," Sheng Xi grabbed the second staff, "I can't give you much for your journey, but you should have a staff. It takes some of the pressure off after a long day's travel, and hold your lantern if you travel at night."
Xia took the staff reverently, running her thumb along the grooved bamboo, "Thank you, master."
"Think nothing of it," he said, "Xia, if you happen to head towards Mandori Village, would you tell Chon Po Stormstout I would like to speak with him?"
"Of course," Xia took the hint readily. She hardly knew the Isle, so some form of heading was helpful.
"Then I will see you when you return," he said simply, using his staff to push open the gates.
"The same to you, Master," Xia said as she stepped out of the gates and onto the road. As the doors shut behind her, the mistweaver took the first step on her journey as she breathing in the autumn air.
There was a small village an hour's walk from the academy, Wu-Song. It was the furthest Xia had been from her home, and was better than being completely lost.
---
Valeera trailed slightly behind Ruby and Blake, eyes trailing downward as they went.
Blake was… interesting. Really interesting.
"So Rehgar's been treating you well?" Ruby asked.
"Me? Yeah. He's not happy with Broll and Croc though," Valeera could honestly say she hadn't been treated this well since her parents died.
Kinda ironic that being made a slave was one of the best things to happen to her, but she supposed that when the bar was against 'losing your parents in a bandit attack' 'your home being sacked by undead' and 'being forced to steal to survive', it would be hard for things to get worse.
"Why?"
"They freak out during our first tournament," an understatement, "smashed one of the other guys to bits and cut up another."
Valeera was all for kicking the crap out of the undead, they probably deserved it, but the rampage Crocbait and Broll were gearing up for could have been bad.
They'd lost a chunk of money to pay for repairing Krang and Roxana. How much more would they have lost if Rehgar hadn't stepped in?
At least Rehgar had taken it from Broll and Crocbait's share.
"They killed people?" Blake asked sounding horrified.
"Undead. They put them back together."
"Still," Ruby said, "that doesn't seem normal. Any idea why?"
"Broll mentioned something about a curse," Valeera continued to watch Blake move, "No idea with Crocbait though."
"Rehgar can probably deal with it if it's a curse," Ruby said confidently, "that's one of the things Shaman are good at, curses."
"Wouldn't that be warlocks?" Valeera asked.
"Less harmful ones," Ruby clarified, "turning people into frogs, making them speak in tongues. Also, getting rid of curses, which Warlocks don't do often. They're petty like that."
"Why would Shaman know how to do those things?"
"Because we can be petty if we need to," Ruby said.
"Need to?" Blake asked.
"There are places sacred to the Elements and Ancestors. We are their voice, so if they decide to be petty, we are expected to be petty for them. Of course, me and Rehgar don't have ancestors to be petty for, so it's just the Elements."
"You don't have ancestors?" Valeera blurted out, "How the heck is that even possible?"
Ruby and Blake turned towards her, and Valeera hastily snapped her eyes up before they could see where she had been looking. She had gotten weird looks for her interests since Quel'thalas, even if back then it had been written off as 'just a kid thing'.
"Rehgar doesn't know what clan he's from," Ruby said, "which is as good as not having one, really. Used to be shameful back before the Crossing, but now it's more common. We're here, by the way."
'Here' was a long two story building made from wood and metal with several chimneys. The sign had an image of a snarling wyvern in red, the tail tipped with green. Valeera ducked in with Ruby, looking around.
The inside was more uniformly wood, by which she meant it was lined with it. Not a scrap of metal in sight, though the chimneys led to stone fireplaces that lit the room up. Fur rugs sat in front of each fireplace, and the ones closest to the door had people seated on them. In the center of the room was a large fire pit, with spits holding different animals and stews hanging over them. Along the back wall was a bar that had several orcs, tauren and trolls around it.
"One sec," Ruby ducked away from them, heading towards the bar.
She walked to an orcish woman talking with the troll behind the bar. As Ruby approached, the trolls face got serious and he reached out to the woman, tapping her on the shoulder as he said something.
The woman span, a look of shock on her face as she put down her tankard. When Ruby got within arms length, she latched onto the human, dragging her over to the bar.
"What's going on?" Blake asked under her breath.
"Dunno," Valeera said.
The troll pulled out an extra pair of tankards, pouring something into them from a keg in the back, and pushed one into Ruby's hands, ignoring her shaking her head and, presumably, refusing it as he did. Ruby stopped as the orc and troll raised their cups and joined in. Each of them downed the alcohol in one go, though with much coughing and spluttering afterwards on Ruby's part. The orc smacked her arm into Ruby's back as she bent over, hacking so loudly she could be heard from Valeera's place. She noticed Blake twitch slightly, and her bow shift.
Once Ruby recovered, there was a brief conversation that ended with Ruby being handed three plates and two more tankards and being directed to the nearest rug. Ruby gestured for Valeera and Blake to come over.
"What was that about?" Valeera asked.
"Nufa and Gravy," Ruby said as she handed each of them a plate, "they knew Bloodeye pretty well. He used to come here every day when we were in Orgrimmar. We hadn't seen each other since he died."
"Ah," Blake said, "are you alright?"
"Yeah," Ruby rubbed her neck, first the front, then the point where it met her right shoulder, "kinda wish I didn't drink that stuff, though. Grab some food, they said it's on the house tonight."
"We just grab whatever we want?" Valeera eyed the dear on one of the spits. She hadn't had venison in years. Not since…
"Yep," Ruby popped the P, "That's why it's normally kinda expensive to eat here. Buffets, right?" The last part was probably directed at Blake.
"Right," Valeera agreed, walking towards a metal pot holding knives that were probably for cutting the food off the whole.
She was going to eat so much. Who knows when the next time she was getting something that wasn't pork was, right?
---
Rehgar grunted as he continued to try and unravel the curse around Broll. Wisps of shadowy magic lashed around the ritual as he did, and the Fel taint roared through the area.
The shaman didn't so much as flinch as the raging druid smashed into the wall of wind around the ritual. The bear was covered in a crackling layer of Fel energy, and each strike added more trails of chaotic green energy.
Rehgar growled as the first layer of wind faded, the Fel disrupting the pattern too much for it to stay together. A couple of effortless words in Kalimag shifted the next layer forward and formed a new one in the back.
"Whoever made this curse really didn't want it undone," Rehgar muttered under his breath, grabbing at another strand of Fel and trying to remove it.
It didn't help matters that Rehgar only had two tricks with the Wilds he was good at, and neither involved the removal of curses. It just wasn't something he did, and unlike Ruby, there wasn't an easy way to pawn Broll off on another shaman.
"Come on, Bearmantle, don't make this harder than it needs to be," Rehgar said in orcish, "you were already refusing to tell me how you got cursed in the first place, which would make this a lot easier."
Maybe Broll wasn't so far gone, because Rehgar found a path into Broll's mind at that moment.
Demons and undead, Malorne's killer at the head. Marching for Hyjal, for Nordrassil. Hands tightened on a dragon shaped Idol, a failure, a broken promise. Rehgar could feel the Wilds radiating from it.
Rage.
Malfurion asked for volunteers to bolster the Sentinels and Wardens. He stepped forward willingly, Anessa hardly a second behind, grabbing a Sentinels' moonglaive. She had been practicing while he slept.
Worry. Pride.
On the slopes of Hyjal, watching as the unending tide undead and demons smashed through the encampment made by the humans, and his small force is overrun by an army, a pit lord at their head. Anessa slashed wide as two men fall.
Rage.
His mouth fell open, a roar carrying a message across the forest around them as he tapped into something deep within for the first time. Roused by his roar, the trees uprooted themselves to fight against the demons while he charged at the pit lord.
Claws raked through toughened hide, branches twisting to dig into the wounds pouring Fel tainted blood, but the Pit Lord was larger, and smashed him back. The idol rolls forward as Anessa ran toward him.
"Look," the pit lord's tusked maw twisted into a mocking grin, "the mortal lost its toy," the two bladed sword swung down towards the idol, which roared like the dragon it was carved into, "it makes noises when you break it! How-"
Anessa's glave flew through the air, gouging out one of the pit lord's eyes as she ran toward them, "Father! Father, ru-"
The idol exploded as the pit lord's blade struck the wellspring of life energy within, the Fel created consuming Anessa in seconds.
Horror.
Rage.
He distantly heard the horn sounding their victory through the haze of anger. When he roared this time, the world bended and twisted to his favor, vines the size of tree trunks wrapping around the pit lord as he tore into it.
Rage.
With each bite, he felt an animal flee him. First the seal-
Rage.
-then the panther slinked away-
Rage.
-the crow took flight-
Rage.
-and finally, with great hesitation, taking almost ten bites after the crow left, the stag sadly bounded away, leaving only the bear.
Rage.
...Abandonment.
Rehgar staggered back as he snapped back to reality, slamming six layers of wind between him and Broll to replace the ones that had shattered during the connection. Slowly, Rehgar dispersed the ritual, just before it broke, he found a tiny string of Fel energy pouring into Broll from in the distance.
This wasn't something he could remove, not without the idol and certainly not without Broll cooperating.
As Rehgar waited for Broll to come down from his Fel rage, he turned to Crocbait, "your turn, boy. Come on."
"What about Broll?"
"He'll be fine," Rehgar said, "it will just take more to get rid of that curse. I need something, I'll probably send Ruby-"
Shit.
Ruby wasn't his apprentice anymore. He couldn't send her anywhere under the guise of training.
Shit. Though she might still do if he explained a bit of what was going on. She had always been a bleeding heart.
He supposed that when he inevitably got himself killed, he would at least be able to say he helped make the world a better place in some way.
"-to get it after her birthday," Rehgar finished. Shit, he had forgotten to get stuff for that. Ruby took birthdays, or as close as could be approximated for most of them, very seriously. Even more than she did Winter Veil, "come on, boy."
"We're not even sure if there's anything wrong with me," Crocbait protested, but sat down nonetheless.
"After what you did in that arena?" Rehgar asked dryly, planting a hand on each side of Crocbait's head, "Boy, that wasn't any natural response. Somethings up, now be quiet and let me figure out what."
Rehgar drew on the Wilds again, using it to connect with Crocbait's being to see if there was anything wrong. It didn't take long.
"Yep," Rehgar blamed Ruby for getting him to pick up that, "there's defiantly something wrong with you, boy."
"Oh, thanks," Crocbait winced, "like what?"
"Like someone tore your damn soul in half," Rehgar said bluntly.
And whoever had done it hadn't been particularly clean about it. Just enough that it was clear it had been done with purpose, though Rehgar couldn't figure out what.
"Is that bad?"
"Well, it's not something I can fix without knowing where the hell the other half is," Rehgar said, "but you won't die from it, life finds a way. Your control will probably get better the longer from the injury you are. Still, I feel bad for the other half of you."
"Why?"
"Because if you got all the anger, they're probably a fucking coward."
"But I'm in control most of the time."
"Then they're probably also weak willed," which meant, "whoever did this probably wants to control the other you. A cowardly, spineless loser would be easy to manipulate."
"Are you going out of your way to insult me?"
"I'm not insulting you, I'm insulting Other You," Rehgar said as he kicked Broll in the ribs, waking him up, "come on, I want to go get drunk."
---
Anduin slid on the quiver, grabbed his bow, nocked the arrow, and after a moment to adjust the traj- trajec- the way it would go fired it off.
It flew less than a hundred yards before trailing off and impacting against the side of the castle wall.
Anduin reeled in the arrow, staring grumpily at the rope around its haft.
"Not quite what you were planning, my prince?"
"Master Shaw!" Anduin span around, "you came!"
"Who am I to refuse the prince's request to see me?" the leader of SI:7 asked, the golden armor he normally wore in Stormwind replace with a set of black leathers, a hood pulled over his auburn hair, "though, in the future, I would suggest not trying to skip out to meeting through elaborate archery tricks, especially not ones you set up."
"I was going to find you," Anduin said, "I wasn't sure you would actually come."
"Normally I wouldn't have," Mathias said as shut and locked the door and walked to the window, peering out it before shutting and latching it, "but many things aren't normal at the moment, are they?"
"You noticed too?" Anduin asked in relief. Everyone had been acting like this was normal.
"Which, that your father's personality changed almost overnight? That Lord Fordragon didn't wait more than a month before writing his friend off as dead and placing you upon the throne? That I couldn't seem to find mention of a House Prestor anywhere before Daval Prestor appeared during the Second War claiming to be related to the Alteraci royal family? It is my job to notice these things, my prince. I'm honestly surprised you did."
"It's not like it isn't obvious," Anduin said, "that's not how my father acts. Spending all this gold on feasts and parties without a care for the people. Bolvar tries to help, but all that happens is father reverses it."
"Quite right," Mathias gave a grim smile, "if you weren't the heir to the throne, I'd say you could make a good agent one day. And it wasn't a slight against your intelligence, my prince, but that I strongly suspect that Prestor," Anduin noticed Mathias conspicuously refusing to call her 'lady', "is a sorceress. She's had the House of Nobles dancing to her song since before you were born, and you might not remember it, but you were the same during your time on the throne. Even I struggle when speaking with her. It was her idea to short change the Stonemasons, and from what I can find, Daval was similarly able to convince notoriously stubborn men to give up their preferred claimant to the Alteraci throne to name him king."
"If you're correct," Anduin made note to ask Master Sheaf about Daval during his next lesson, "that would mean Lady Prestor is responsible for the death of my mother?"
Anduin's grip on his bow tightened, anger at the thought bubbling up as he stared at the portrait of his mother handing opposite his bed.
"By proxy, at the very least," Mathias said, "but in my line of work, that is as good as swinging the knife yourself. I knew Edwin VanCleef, my prince, we were best friends in our youth. He would never demand as much as he did under the right mind."
"You think she have manipulated them too?"
"Very much so. Whether the riot ending in your mother's death was the intended goal, or just an accident she capitalized on, I can't be sure at the moment," Mathias said, a dark look coming over his face, "permission to be candid, my lord?"
Anduin blinked at the question, he hasn't been candid before? "You may."
"I strongly suspect that Prestor's goal is nothing less than the destruction of Stormwind, both as a city and a kingdom."
"Why? She has control of the house of nobles and my father, why would she want to destroy it?"
"She betrayed us to the Horde, Burning Legion, or another organization that wants Stormwind to burn? She likes power, that much is clear. Nonetheless, any time SI:7, or indeed, anyone else comes to Stormwind with reports of danger in our lands, she urges him to not send support for a lack of evidence. This includes when men march into the keep maimed by the orcs, talking of those who weren't so lucky. When I send agents in against her wishes and verify that these are not one off incidents, as she claims, she writes it off as us seeing what we want to see and SI:7 being 'paranoidal'," Mathias sneered, "in short, my lord, I think we have the most idiotic traitor on the face of Azeroth in our midsts, who is only keeping her position by blatantly bewitching the nobles, and the only reason I haven't dragged her down to SI:7 headquarters is because I would most likely be declared a traitor myself before the first hint of blood touched the knife."
Anduin flinched at the subtle reference to torture. It wasn't something he even began to approve of. Steeling himself, the ten year old gulped, "so we need to find evidence of her betrayal first. Evidence she can't refute."
"Indeed," Mathias said, "say the word, and I will deploy SI:7 agents throughout Azeroth to look into this matter."
"Can we be sure they won't betray us to Prestor?"
"Yes," Mathias nodded, "I will use my most loyal agents for this job, up to and including myself, if the need arises."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? If you die out there, Prestor will be able to name a new head of SI:7."
"Don't you mean your father will be able to name a new head?"
"Are those words not one and the same at the moment?" Anduin responded instantly.
"You are incredibly smart for a ten year old," Mathias said, "Yes, they are the same. However, do not worry about me, my lord. I didn't get to be the head of Stormwind Intelligence by being easy to discover. In fact, you and I are the only people aware of the fact I am in the keep at the moment."
Anduin knew exactly why Mathias had said that. The Stormwind keep was the single most guarded place on Azeroth. According to Master Sheaf, not even the Horde's warchief was so well defended. Dignitaries from every human kingdom and Alliance nation rested here, so it had to be.
"Then do it, spymaster," Anduin straightened his back, "I want the threat to my kingdom exposed and eliminated, as quickly as possible."
Mathias smirked, giving a cross between a bow and a nod, "as you command, my lord."
Then he opened Anduin's window and calmly stepped out of it. Anduin lunged forward, looking down and preparing to see the body of Mathias Shaw.
Instead, he watched as Mathias lept from dormer to dormer, like they were just particularly large stairs, until he was far enough down to leap onto the ground and disappear into the bushes.
Anduin looked at his arrow, before undoing the rope from around it and returned it to his quiver, "That's the last time I listen to the bard," Anduin grumbled as he threw away the rope, "'Aye milord, I saw it with my own eyes!' No he didn't."
---
"Sir!"
Zur'ak looked up from where he was studying a map of Silithus, Un'goro, and Tanaris as the orc shaman gave a salute, "What? I be busy."
"I'm sorry, but there's a troll asking for you."
"Don't care," Zur'ak returned to his map, examining the map in front of him, "I don't have time ta waste on some random troll-"
"They said they're from the Zandalar tribe?" the orc said, recoiling as Zur'ak's head snapped back up to look at him, the Firefist's orange mane covering his eyes for a moment, "I'm sorry, they said that would-"
"Send dem in," Zur'ak said, "Send dem in, now."
"They said that you were to meet with them," the orc said weakly, "at the dunes to the south."
Of course they had. Never trust a Zandalari to make things easy when it could be done by making someone else jump through twenty hoops.
"Den I will go meet dem," Zur'ak grabbed his gauntlets and starting the process to get them on, "and ya can stay 'ere and tell anyone who comes lookin' for me where I am, understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Zur'ak stomped out of his tent into the sun, turning towards the south as he continued to adjust the straps and buckles to keep his weapons on. Right hand first, in case things went wrong before he got there. It seemed to be how the day was going.
Zandalari, here? Damn it all.
Zur'ak gave a nasty grin as he finished putting on the gauntlet, hearing its hum. Rehgar had been right, the Rose girl wasn't half bad at forging. Not as good as the masters of Zuldazar, but those bastards seemed to be able to live for too long.
It took another ten minutes for Zur'ak to climb the dunes, scowling at the straight backed troll staring to the south, he spoke in Zandali, "What do you want, Zandalari?"
The troll turned towards him, staring down through the eyes of his mask. Zur'ak ran through his brief knowledge of Zandalari loa to figure out who he was speaking to. Wasn't Bwonsamdi, that one was easy, as it didn't look anything like a rush'kah mask (or, rather, it didn't bear the likeness of Bwonsamdi's face all rush'kah masks were made to invoke). Zanza? No, Zanza's masks ended in a rounded curve, while this was a sharp point. Hir'eek was out too, his masks had two long flares on the side to represent a bat's wings. He didn't see the silk tassels of Shadra either. The only identifying features were a pair of extra tusks and the top ending in a set of jagged points.
"You are… Zur'ak?" the Zandalari asked.
"I am," Zur'ak said, enjoying speaking a language that was designed to work with the tusks jutting from his mouth, "and you are?"
"I am Grez'zul," the Zandalari gave a slight bow, "emissary of God King Rastakhan, Zuldazar, and the loa Grimath."
Zul as a suffix? Not wrong, but not common. Normally meant someone's parents thought a bit too highly of their kid and named them Zul, which would probably be headache inducing if any of them even did anything to warrant it. What would they be then, Zul'zul, or just keep it as Zul? The latter was normally shameful, however. Figuring out that mess would probably be one of the only times you'd actually want a Zandalari handy since clinging to dying traditions was all they were good for. He hadn't ever heard of Grimath though.
"I am Zur'ak of the Darkspear tribe, speaker for the Element five and Shango," Zur'ak returned the bow. As much as he hated those dying traditions, it was best to pay them service lest he anger the Zandalari, "It humbles me greatly to be before a servant of the great Rastakhan."
"You speak for six loa?" Grez'zul asked, "that is quite strange."
"We are a small tribe, and we lost many men very quickly," and it was odd for a shaman to focus on one element to the exclusion of all others.
"Ah, yes. From what I heard, Bwonsamdi kicked up quite a fuss about the loss of your offerings. Why was that?
"A traitor took our home from us. Turned our dead against us.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Grez'zul truly sounded like he was, "has your chieftain considered petitioning for support from Zandalar?"
"We don't need help from Zandalar," Zur'ak said shortly, "We have plenty of support from the Horde."
Grez'zul nodded, the point of his mask tapping his chest, "Yes, I had been informed that your tribe had entered an alliance with the Horde."
An alliance? They were part of the Horde, sworn brothers to the orcs, tauren, forsaken, hell, even those pretty boy blood elves. But then the Zandalari probably couldn't understand that, they were stuck in a time that had long since past.
"Why are you here?" Zur'ak asked.
"The loa have been uneasy, the temples are deathly silent, the voodoo has become weaker, the tiki warriors all look to Silithus and Zul speaks of a great calamity that could soon come to pass here. I have come to verify these claims. Tell me, do you think this is as bad as the loa say? Be truthful, you don't need to lie about this."
Zur'ak looked to the south, where the gates of Ahn'Qiraj were barely visible. The Scarab Wall itself stretched out as far as he could see, making it easier to locate, "I do. These bugs, they send swarms at us each day. If we don't get those gates open soon, they'll overrun us before we even have a chance to stop them. You can see one of the hives over there," Zur'ak pointed to Hive'Regal, watching the giant leg like stalks twitch and writhe, "The Night Elves speak of a war a thousand years ago, where they fought against the creatures. Do you know anything of that, man?
"No," Grez'zul said, "but the loa speak of a war before that. One where trollkind banded together as one empire to fight these creatures ancestors. If what you say is true, I fear we will be left with no choice to do so again," Grez'zul's eye locked onto him, "I will travel east, to Zul'Farrak and attempt to convince the Farraki to send aid this way before I return to Zuldazar, brother. Can you hold out that long?"
"I hope so," Zur'ak said.
"Then, if we do not meet again, may your soul ride the storms of Shango."
"And may Bwonsamdi take you to his Necropolis," without knowing what Grimath was loa of, that was the best response Zur'ak could give.
Grez'zul turned, to the east, walking down the slopes of Silithus.
"I hope you don't plan to walk to Zul'farrak!" Zur'ak called.
In response, Grez'zul reached out and grabbed a shimmer in the air, before ripping it back like a curtain. An illusion? What was he hiding?
A dinosaur. A horn jutted from the nose, and two above the eyes, with a crown of spikes at the top of its flat head. Strapped on its back was a chair with a pair of reins.
The Zandalari troll ran his hand along the red hide of the beast, before climbing up onto the chair and riding off.
Zur'ak marched down the dunes, muttering to himself, "We get raptors, they get those things. Zandalari always need to be better than the rest of us."
And where the hell were those mages? They were supposed to get here two weeks ago!
---
Woo boy, that one was fun to write (and hopefully fun to read). I'll admit not a lot got done in advancing the Silithus stuff, but I felt we needed a bit of time with the supporting cast.
Yeah, I made Valeera gay. Figured since the vast majority of the cast (who are interested in relationships) are either straight or bi (or, in Ruby's case, demisexual), I might as well add one. The fact that doesn't show any interest in men (unless that happens during He-Who-Was-Banished-To-The-Noncanon-Void comic issues) left me a bit of free reign on it. And preemptively, yes, I know Blizzard said Valeera was going to have a crush on Crocbait in the lead up to the comic, but it never actually shows up.
No Weiss and Yang this chapter (as you no doubt know). I wanted to get that scene with Zur'ak out because it was supposed to happen like, three chapters ago. What really ticks me off that I didn't do it then is it makes me look like I decided to use them because they're becoming playable in BtA, but it was actually specifically because of the Troll-Aqir War. In direct relation to that, I decided to have trolls ditch the accent when talking in Zandali.
That Anduin scene. God, I don't know. It was originally supposed to be him sneaking out to go hunting because he's a ten year old currently surrounded by nothing but bad role models, then Mathias showed up and went 'Hey! Spymaster here! We're going to not do that, and instead me and Anduin are gonna focus on breaking this wide open.' Kinda like Anduin and Magni do in canon, but with the added bonus Shaw's later existence as an actual character (as opposed to the generic guy standing around handing out rogue missions in Stormwind)
Like, that's kinda the problem with people telling me what to do. These characters don't give a crap what I want them to do. They'll follow the plan, but then the details get thrown out for how they want to act. Rehgar, Broll and Crocbait were supposed to be out getting drinks instead we jump to them and 'Nope! We're gonna be doing a ritual to try and purge Broll of his Fel corruption.'
Last edited:
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
There's a bit of sad irony in Valeera trying to hide the fact she's gay, as nobody she interacts with would care.
Ruby's pining for Blake herself, Blake's... Blake, Rehgar's playing Shipper on Deck, so the worst he would do is try and point Valeera towards someone other than Blake, it is heavily implied the female night elves, at the very least, practiced Situational Sexuality, and Crocbait just wouldn't care.
Ruby's pining for Blake herself, Blake's... Blake, Rehgar's playing Shipper on Deck, so the worst he would do is try and point Valeera towards someone other than Blake, it is heavily implied the female night elves, at the very least, practiced Situational Sexuality, and Crocbait just wouldn't care.