Alright, here's that omake I talked about. This is based on a western PC game, rather than a console game like most of the setting, but there's some precedent and I think it fits the crossover's setting parameters nicely.
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Across the Twisting Nether
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"I'm sorry, but you must understand that Mr. Agahnim's time is very valuable, and we can't justify bothering him with-"
"Can't justify? Can't justify? What's more justifiable than the opportunity to explore other worlds?" The scientist could barely hold himself back from screaming at this narrow-minded middle manager.
The infuriating little man maintained the same placid, condescending expression. "Now, now, your multidimensional theory is very ingenious, I'm sure, but here at GD Tech we are dedicated to uncovering the ancient history and technology of this world. I'm afraid we can't spare resources entertaining every-"
"I have explained to you - in detail - how these other worlds may hold the key to solving the Hylian Question!"
"Ah, yes. Your 'evidence'. These dreams of yours. Do you actually believe that is compelling enough to trouble the CEO over?"
The scientist ground his teeth. He'd been having the dreams since he was a boy. Strange, horrifying dreams. So vivid, so all-consuming, that he'd broken out into violent seizures. He was administered medication, of course. And it had worked. For a while. But they had slowly returned, with ever increasing frequency and intensity. And as they grew in clarity and scope, so grew an unshakable conviction within him that they were real. The worlds he saw were out there, somewhere, as were those world's inhabitants. Inhabitants that sometimes reminded him of the creatures living in the Outlands.
Now, those other worlds felt more real to him than the office he was currently sitting in. "They're not dreams," he insisted, "they're visions!"
The manager finally allowed his impatience to show on his face. "I'm going to have to insist that you return to the lab and focus on the work that has been assigned to you. Put these delusions out of your head. This matter is no longer up for discussion."
The scientist - the visionary - managed to stifle a snarl as he left the room. Fine. If that short-sighted buffoon refused to see the truth, he'd just have to find someone who would.
—
"So if I understand you right, this other dimension-"
"The Twisting Nether," he corrected automatically.
"Right, right, right. You scientist types and your jargon," the UAC representative continued, "It would allow you to teleport anything? Anywhere?"
"Theoretically, yes. Instantaneous travel of any matter, organic or inorganic, between two points in space. Any space." It was an oversimplification, but the visionary had learned that small minds were simply incapable of seeing the big picture. Ironically, it was those same minds that always held the purse strings. He'd learned you had to give them something basic, something they could wrap their heads around. Something they could see profit in.
Sadly, by the time he'd learned that lesson, word had spread throughout GD that his "delusions" were not to be entertained. He'd had to look farther afield to find someone willing to sponsor his ideas. Which brought him here.
"Teleportation of organic matter," mused the representative, "Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth for WilyCorp." His eyes shone with thinly veiled greed.
"And that's just the beginning," pressed the visionary. "We could revolutionize space travel. Imagine a future where starships are practically obsolete. Where whole galaxies are colonized in a matter of decades, rather than centuries."
"Yes," the UAC man's smile widened, but the greed in his eyes suddenly dimmed. Not gone, but restrained. "Yes, the Union Aerospace Corporation would be very interested in your project. That is, if you have proof you can deliver on what you promise."
"Naturally," the visionary replied, drawing a thick folder from his briefcase. Another hard lesson learned. "I have extensive documentation for all my theories, as well as sketches of an early blueprint for a prototype." The UAC man reached for the folder, only for it to be pulled away. "Of course, we would need to discuss terms before I could show you any of my research."
"Sure, sure," the representative said hastily, "I was thinking-" he cut himself off. There were sounds of a disturbance outside the room. Gunfire. Both men stood and reached under their suit coats.
One wall suddenly exploded inward. The men were thrown to the ground. Papers scattered across the room. The visionary shakily pushed himself off the floor, rapidly blinking to try to clear his blurry vision. In the gaping hole in the wall he could make out a silhouette. Something metallic. A shape he recognized.
An Armos unit. GD had found him. Somehow - he didn't know how, nor did it really matter - they had learned of his plan to sign on with another company. He was now a security liability, and would accordingly be eliminated. The robot's sensors swept the room, focused on him, and it started toward him.
He sprang to his feet and drew the zapper he'd purchased a few weeks ago. He was familiar with this Armos model. There was a spot where the heavy metal plates met where the armor was relatively thin. He aimed and fired. There was a burst of energy, and the robot staggered back, armor scorched, but it didn't go down, and resumed its forward march. He swore and fired again. And again. On the fourth shot the thing finally crashed to the ground, sensor lights fading. The visionary winced in pain and tossed his overheating weapon from one blistering hand to the other and back. He turned to look at the UAC man.
The man was kneeling on the floor, hurriedly snatching up the scattered papers, his research, as fast as he could. With an angry cry, the visionary forced himself to grip the still scorching-hot zapper and pointed it at the thief. The man realized his danger at the last moment and dove out of the way of the blast. Then, clutching what pages he had, the thief dashed to the door at the back of the room, narrowly avoided a second shot, and was gone.
The visionary dropped the zapper, furious. How dare the man steal his life's work! He moved to pursue him, but the sight of the fallen Armos brought him up short. In the distance, he could still faintly hear the sounds of combat. GD was after him, and he couldn't rely on UAC for protection. The City was no longer safe for him. He had but one option left. Quickly, he scooped up what remained of his research, grabbed his fallen weapon, and ran.
—
The visionary - now a wanderer - trudged wearily across the Outlands plain, cloak held close against the whipping wind. From his shoulders hung a heavy pack, filled to the brim with the tools he needed to unlock his future. Advanced tech from the City, scavenged machinery bartered from Outlands tribes, looted artifacts from the desolate wastes. More than the pack, his mind was overflowing. The visions had grown even more intense, in a way the man could scarcely describe. Where once he had merely observed, now he felt with senses that transcended those of the waking world. His naked mind touched the very fabric of countless worlds; brushed, however briefly, the minds of those who lived there.
It wasn't enough. It could never be enough. He needed to know it all, everything, in its totality.
He pressed forward, assisted by his metal walking staff. One of the first things he'd done when fleeing the City was upgrade his zapper. The customized weapon was more powerful, but awkward and bulky. He'd solved the issue by mounting it to the top of his staff. It had served him well these past months.
He was deep in the Outlands now, beyond the areas mapped by GD surveys. Before him the land spread out in wide, flat plains, broken up by rocky outcrops and, in the distance, patches of greenery. Land well suited to support human life, which experience taught him meant that someone had surely already laid claim to it.
As if on cue, he spotted figures moving toward him. Fast, but without the tell-tale roars of engines. He casually took his staff in both hands, waiting patiently, thumb on the firing stud. One never could be certain when meeting new people.
Details emerged as the figures came closer. Two men on horseback. Despite his months in the Outlands, it still felt like a novelty to see people using original Earth livestock. The men wore armor. Not the improvised, mismatched affairs usually seen on self-proclaimed "knights", he noted. They looked smithed. Professionally crafted. From their saddles hung spiked balls on chains. Primitive weapons, but quite deadly if brought to bear.
"Hail, stranger!" called one as they drew up near him. "What business have you in our lands?"
The wanderer remained on guard, but kept his voice friendly. "Just a humble explorer, in search of knowledge."
The horseman regarded him suspiciously. "Alone? These wilds are home to all manner of dangerous creatures. Hardly safe for a lone, unarmed traveler."
The wanderer smirked. Unarmed? He pointed with his staff toward a nearby rock formation. "Creatures like those, you mean?"
The horsemen followed his staff with their gaze. There in the shadow of the rocks crouched an alien primitive - a variant of Moblin, he thought - stone ax in hand. The horsemen reached for their weapons. The wanderer pressed the firing stud of his staff.
There was a thunderous crack, a blinding flash of light, and the creature collapsed in a smoking heap.
The second of the horsemen, looking quite shaken, made a gesture that vaguely reminded the wanderer of an old Earth religion. Curious, the things that thrived in the Outlands. The first horseman turned back to the wanderer with a markedly changed attitude. "Forgive me, sir, I should have realized from your garb that you are a powerful mage."
Mage. An archaic term, yet one the wanderer found strangely fitting. He smiled at the thought.
"Please, be welcome in Azeroth," the man continued. "Good King Llane would surely be honored to accept a man of your talents into his court. How are you called?"
The wanderer - the mage - leaned on his staff, smile widening. "You may call me Medivh." he said. "Lead on, sir knight."
—
Medivh, Archmage of Azeroth, stood on the precipice of greatness. His years in Azeroth had changed him. Here, he had found the final pieces of knowledge he had sought. Here, he found the beginnings of enlightenment.
Azeroth was an unusual place. Backwards, by some metrics, yet advanced by others. The settlers of this place had been of a rather different breed than most settlers of Princeps Dominaire. While others had looked to computers and machinery to build their lives for them, the settlers of Azeroth might be called romantics. Or Luddites. They dreamed of humanity's distant past, when men worked the fields and toiled in the smithies themselves, when a man could shape his future with his own hands. They brought from earth the knowledge of the old ways, knowledge others had thought they'd outgrown. And so while around them others fought over scraps of technology they barely understood, Azeroth prospered. And in time, that prosperity and the wisdom of their kings ushered in a time of peace. The perfect refuge for Medivh to conduct his experiments.
But it was in their scholarship where Medivh made his true breakthrough. The intelligentsia of Azeroth didn't shun science, per se, rather they attempted to follow the traditions of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A time when learned men didn't see science, magic, and religion as contradictory, but as branches of the same tree. Medivh had scoffed at this at first, but then he looked closer, and was astonished. The magical formulae of their wizards and the fervent prayers of their priests held an undeniable power equal to any City gadget. Thus Medivh discovered the truth: that the arbitrary distinctions City scientists made between "real science" and superstition were themselves the true superstition.
Technology, magic, spirituality, it was all knowledge. All power. All reality. So Medivh took it all and made it his own.
Now, his masterpiece stood before him. The portal that would open the path to the worlds of his dreams. Soon he would have the full knowledge - the full power - of not just this, but of all worlds. And he would have his revenge on those who thought they could stand in his way.
He bent over the console, flipping switches and pressing buttons while chanting the incantation to make his will reality. Power sources sprang to life, the hum of scavenged mana crystals mingling with the roar of a diesel engine imported from the neighboring kingdom of Kul Tiras. Within the black stone frame of the portal door, energy flickered, illuminating carved runes and paths of circuitry. The light intensified, became a swirling vertical disc of the raw stuff of the Twisting Nether.
The rift was open. Euphoria coursing through him, Medivh stared into his console monitor, now a window through the barrier between worlds. He saw a humanoid figure, sitting on a floor in a meditative pose. If he looked closely enough, he could make out a green-skinned face beneath the heavy robe. Not a human, nor a Moblin, but something that might be related to either. Medivh knew the face. He'd felt its owner's mind countless times in his visions.
Medivh allowed himself to laugh. It felt good, after so long. "Hello there," he said, the light of the portal reflecting off his grinning face. "Such a pleasure to finally meet you, Gul'dan."
