THE LIGHTBEARER

I don't own World of Warcraft or any of its associated characters. I do own some of the characters in this story since I created them.

+Internal thoughts+

Sorry i had to revamp this chapter because i found out an internal dialog was lost since FF does not allow for the use of thoes arrows or anything between them.

CHAPTER ONE

PAST DEMONS

(…START)

"… DAD?… DAD? WHEN WILL YOU COME GET ME?I'M WAITING DAD. I WANNA GO SEE MOMMY…DAD?" INQUIRED A YOUNG CHILD'S VOICE.

"Whhhaa… huh? What?… Ohhh don't worry Jimmy I'm on my way now, almost there…"

"BUT DAD……I'VE ALREADY BEEN WAITING ALONG TIME NOW…"

"Yes. You're a pati-… ??… www- wait. You're already-…"

"NO! YOU DON'T EVEN LOVE ME DO YOU THEN?"

"That's not true… I do love you son. I love you so mu-…"

"LIAR! IF YOU DID YOU WOULD HAVE COME FOR ME BY NOW!"

"No that's not how it is, it was already too lat-"

"I'M LEAVING DAD……"

"No wait please I can explain! Jimmy stop! Wait!"

"BYE DAD… …"

(…END)

"JIMM-YYYY!!" bolting upright and covered in sweat, Jar'ian woke to find himself in the woods south east of long abandoned Alterac by a campfire. Soft yet strong hands were pressed upon his shoulders. A drawlingly musical voice heavy with accents and only tinged with concern snapped him to his senses.

"Again? The dream plagues your sleep still? Come on. Get back to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning, we still have a long way to travel." crouching beside him was a young night elf.

Jar'ian continued looking dumbly up at her until his senses fully came back to him. Seeing this, the night elf (Alannasilvas) got back up and walked to her side of the fire and proceeded to go back to sleep. Only when her breathing became slowed and steady did the young mountain lion next to her lower it's head and also resumed it's rest.

Still wondering how he continues to get pulled into the reoccurring dream even after all these years Jar'ian settled back down knowing peaceful rest would be waiting. Now calmed Jar'ian felt the familiar warmth settle down on his chest, followed shortly by a soothing and ever content purring. Despite the dream he could only smile at the image of the white little furball curled on his chest. Giving the kitten one good scratch behind the left ear before he drifted back to sleep.

"Jimmy… …"

(THE NEXT DAY. SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF SOUTHSHORE AND NORTH OF STROMGARDE KEEP)

"Well I tell you what! That pompous old fool didn't pay us enough for what we had to go through with! With what I had to put up with. That old pervert just kept eyeing me up and wasn't even discreet about it either." ranted Alannasilvas.

"Well, what would you have had me do about it?" inquired Jar'ian patiently.

"Do about it? DO ABOUT IT? You could have demanded he pay the both of us more for what happened" raged Alannasilvas.

"Pay me for him staring at you? We were paid separately remember? Besides making such a demand would not make much sense, increasing my pay for your sufferings. You should have demanded it for yourself." Replied Jar'ian.

"But!… Mmmmppphhhh!! Fine you're right…" fumed Alannasilvas. After all he was right. They weren't hired together, they were hired separately for the same job, along with a few others. Besides to do so would lead others to assume there was something between the two going on. Which was absurd. Jar'ian was an old veteran paladin. Getting very old in fact, and very human. While she was a relatively young night elf. The idea of something between them two was pretty far fetched she had to agree, but that's what it would look like to others. They were good friends and had been for some time now. In fact it was Jar'ian who saved her live and introduced her to this profession, this way of living. Over time she herself had become quite good at what she did and had even started getting a reputation of her own as a hired strong arm. She even found herself hired on the same job as Jar'ian from time to time.

Smiling to himself, Jar'ian thought over how much she seemed to have matured mentally since he had first found her. She was becoming quite good at the job and in no time people would be asking for her by name and her list of regulars would be counted on more than just a hand. But he also reflected on how little she had changed as well. A majority of the change was only on the surface and a show for those who hired her and those she sometimes worked with. When not in that company she seem to revert back to how she was when they first met, mostly. After all the hardships and the things she experience and what she had been required to do did leave their mark. She wasn't the scared and excited little girl he had left anymore. She was an accomplished warrior, she just was still so full of life and youth yet. With a smile returning to his face and a look of mischievousness in his eyes…

"Besides. I think you liked it when he was eyeing you up." Jar'ian coyly slipped out.

"What!? Enjoyed?! Never! Why, you're lucky you saved my life! Otherwise I'd skin you alive for such a lewd comment! As it stands I don't see why I don't just take these daggers to your ribs anyways." roared Alannasilvas.

"What's holding you back? Don't let a little thing like that control your actions. If you're going to do it, then do it already." replied Jar'ian with a carelessness air that spoke as if such a thing really was trivial.

Caught up in the goading and her own outrage Alannasilvas charged Jar'ian and swept to his backside and both lunged and thrusted into his lower rib cage. So caught up in the action she failed to notice the faint bluish glow that surrounded him, nor the evident smirk plastered to his face.

!CLANG!!

"OUCH!! MY WRISTS!!"

As Alannasilvas tumbled to the side and rolled, both of her daggers fell harmlessly a few feet behind her. Cradling both of her wrists she turned to face Jar'ian and shot him a glare that should have killed him on the spot, which he responded with only a large toothy, cheesy grin and resumed methodically trotting forward. Even her mountain lion only turned it's head back and studied what transpired with a lazy gaze and he too resumed scanning forward, as if to say 'serves you right'.

"You cheated! You tricked me! You encased yourself in that magical type of protection you have!" accused Alannasilvas.

Seemingly to pay more attention to the little kitten nestled between his armor and his neck and giving it a little scratch behind the ears, Jar'ian continued to smile and face forward. Seeing as how she would be getting no where with this, Alannasilvas decided to drop it and give up. Awkwardly scooping up her dropped daggers and after fumbling them back into their sheaths, Alannasilvas proceeded to race to the others and fell in step alongside Jar'ian. Cocking her head to the side and turning only enough to catch him in the corner of her eye she raised her injured wrists for him to see.

Chuckling, Jar'ian replied. "And what do you expect me to do with them?"

With a look of shock followed by pitiful defeat, Alannasilvas dropped her face and slowly lowered her wrists. Being stopped by a gentle grip just below the injuries, Alannasilvas looked with a face of a sad scowled child.

In mock seriousness and with a look of thought Jar'ian replied:

"Hmmm… well now that you mention it this one looks a little sprained while the other looks to be completely broken." With that said, a warm golden flash emanated from around his hands and a warm soothing feeling sank into Alannasilvas' wrists. With a look of a child who was just given the one present they ever wanted most Alannasilvas bounced back to her lion and began to stride in joyful dedicated steps with her newly healed wrists.

As they neared old Stromgarde Keep they could hear the sounds of battle being waged. Both Jar'ian and Alannasilvas just looked at each other nodded and eased their weapons from their sides. Catching the tension in the air Alannasilvas's mountain lion began to stretch his paws and flex his claws. They caught what looked like a skirmish between Horde and Alliance Forces. The Alliance seemed to be outnumbered and most of their members were hurting badly or were already down. Immediately Alannasilvas sent her lion "Fluffy" to attack a large orc warrior bearing down upon an overwhelmed gnome mage. The momentary distraction was all the time the gnome needed to finish forming a large fireball which she launched into the orc's face, melting it to the bone. With his head obliterated the orc dropped limply to the ground, at which time Fluffy proceeded on to his next target while Alannasilvas turned an unsuspecting Troll shaman into a screaming pin cushion.

Jar'ian charged into the battle like a runaway bull, plowing down three Horde fighters with either his shield or exposed shoulder plate. Without slowing, Jar'ian charged his mace with holy energies and unleashed it upon the back of an unsuspecting Forsaken warlock with but a gentle tap to the back as he passed by. The warlock flared in flash of golden light and was reduced to ashes. Turning to charge the voidwalker from behind while it was engaged with a heavily armored warrior. Before he made it halfway the voidwalker brushed aside the warrior and spun to face the one who freed it from his master. Once freed from bondage, the demons are able to utilize the full extent of their powers. Repeating the same thing he did on the Forsaken, Jar'ian slammed down his mace with some holy Righteousness. The voidwalker shrieked and retaliated with a blind back swing which Jar'ian's raised shield took the brunt of. An attack that would normally have destroyed the demon now only served to hurt and enrage it more and even allowed for retaliation. Even still Jar'ian was lifted off his feet and landed a few paces to the side. Still on his feet, prepared to exorcise this demon from this world Jar'ian summoned the ancient rites in his head while making his mind ready for what he was about to do.

"Back from whence you came demon!" extending his palm toward the voidwalker and unleashing a bright flash. The bright flash seemed to be absorbed into the darkness that made up the demon, Jar'ian was relieved to see that the exorcism spell still seemed to cause the voidwalker pain though.

The void walker charged Jar'ian in rage and began to beat down with all it's might, slamming both fists down simultaneously as if to make up for all the pain he had already caused. Bringing up his shield to cover from the blows, Jar'ian felt himself slowly brought to his knees by the onslaught. It was Jar'ian's turn to retaliate, Jar'ian sought retribution and found himself within an orangish haze and felt the very air around him charge with the holy spirit of retribution. With each consecutive blow more holy energy was back lashed into the demon, draining him as the holy energies conflicted with his unholy nature. Jar'ian too found himself weakening as his body's strength was being pushed to its limits against the void walker's unholy strength. In one last ditch effort, Jar'ian rolled to the side between strikes and with everything he had left he threw his hammer, charged vastly with his remaining energy, into the demon's center. He watched as it dissipated and radiated an odd sense of despair. Turning to survey the continuing battle, Jar'ian focused on aiding those who had fallen as well as restoring vitality to those still actively engaged in battle. Doing what he could and draining himself completely, Jar'ian barely had the strength to stand. But stand he did as the battle came to a close and all that was left was the horde's leader. A powerful and towering tauren shaman. The mighty bovine had pressed all his opponents back with his two large axes he wielded. Each of which would require a normal man to handle singlely. Marching on toward the behemoth the remaining alliance began to part for Jar'ian's coming. Quickly they began to chant:

"LIGHTBEARER!…LIGHTBEARER!…LIGHTBEARER!… LIGHTBEARER!"

Hearing this and seeing the inspiration filled by the others, the tauren grew quite alarmed at the sight of the slowly approaching human clad heavily in plate mail.

"So you are the one known as 'The Lightbearer'". Spoke the tauren in a horribly gluttered Common.

Stopping his advance, Jar'ian replied with a simple:

"I am he."

With widening eyes the tauren spoke again with urgency and maybe a little reverence.

"I have heard tales of you, spoken almost as a myth. It is said many of the horde have fallen to your mace. That your fierceness in battle is great and only exceeded by the power you wield and the power you inspire in those around you. You are described as being shrouded in a great holy light and that you radiate a sense of holy wrath and might."

With a smile creeping near the edges of his mouth, "That you stand as tall as any orc warrior." with a bit of a chuckle he continues, " I can see where things were a bit exaggerated there… but I have seen enough to believe most of it to be true and the rest to be only partly. I can see now that I would not survive a battle with you and that your mere presence alone here on the battlefield is what allowed your people to win. It is said that your skills in battle are only held in check by a strong sense of honor, and I would wish to call upon that honor now. Spare my life; I am defeated, alone and at your mercy. Please. I will go and spread word that I have seen you and survived, if only by your mercy and honor." as he continued on he became more serious. Kneeling down, bowing his head and placing his axes down he spoke "By my life I ask you spare me Lightbearer on your honor."

Standing there frozen in thought surrounded by all the others waiting intently for his reply:

"Very well… go in peace. You have my word none of these men will harm you."

Nodding and rising the tauren left his axes where they lay and turned to go. Before he could turn all the way he stopped and looked at Lightbearer and spoke:

"By my blood I will not forget this Lightbearer. I owe you more than you can know for this." with that he turned and left at a fast gallop.

With him gone, Jar'ian dropped to one knee in exhaustion, which was the last of his strength used. Barely keeping conscious he tried with all his might just to remain even kneeling. Quickly the others rushed to his side and lifted him up by his shoulders. Alannasilvas was quickly by his side. As he was carried from the battle field they all stopped to rest and started fires. As night roll in the leader of the group came forward.

"I just wanna thank you two for coming when you did. If not for you we'd all be dead or prisoners by now."

Merely nodding, while Alannasilvas displayed a warm smile, the two settled in and got ready for rest and made plans to depart the group on the next day.

(THE NEXT DAY - AFTER THEIR DEPARTURE - SOUTH OF ARATHI BASIN)

"LIGHTBEARER?!… LIGHTBEARER?! WHO OR WHAT IS 'LIGHTBEARER'? WHAT WAS ALL THAT ABOUT? THAT TAUREN LOOKED LIKE HE WAS ABOUT TO SHIT HIMSELF WHEN HE HEARD THAT NAME."

"HE SAID YOU WERE LIKE A MYTH! JAR'IAN PLEASE SAY SOMETHING. TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!

"It's complicated"

"Why didn't you say something about it before?"

"I didn't think it was something important. No reason to talk about it ever came up."

"Well?…"

"Well… it's just something from long ago, from when I was younger. You know during my time in the wars is all. It really doesn't mean anything anymore."

"Well it didn't seem so long ago for that tauren, and the rest of those guys seemed to think it still meant a lot. They were ready to follow you where ever you pointed"

"I know… sigh…please it's a touchy subject for me"

"Jar'ian…"

Growing silent the two travelers continued on to there next destination, Ironforge, capital city of the dwarf nation and refuge to the gnomes.

(OUTSKIRTS OF IRON FORGE)

It took two days of steady travel to reach the outskirts of Ironforge. Most of that time was taken up with Alannasilvas and her lion catching game along the way and in near utter lack of conversation. It seemed the last topic of conversation had the affect of shutting Jar'ian in on himself and looking inward.

+For a man of faith, Jar'ian sure does seem to have a lot of demons in his closet...+thought Alannasilvas.

As they closed in on the gates the dwarven guards could be made out. Paying the two travelers little heed the sentries continued roving and monitoring for any sign of hostility. Once inside the warm oven like atmosphere began to soak into them and replace the harsh chill from the outside that had permeated their very being.

Once they made it to the center area Jar'ian made a bee-line for The Forge.

"I got some things to go over with someone. I'll probably be a bit. If you feel like waiting feel free to wander around and just come back here to see when I'm ready, O.K.?

"Sure thing. I could use this time to pick a few supplies up and get some food for 'Fluffy'".

As they parted ways, Alannasilvas turned to see Jar'ian approach an old grizzled dwarf.

"Dak? Dak Stonebreaker?"

"Aye lad! It's been a while. What brings you here to The Forge?"

"Well I came across some interesting armors and wanted to go over the designs with you."

"Hahaha, straight onto business as always huh, Light?"

"Always" Jar'ian replied with a grin.

"Well let me see what you came across then and we can get to work."

Immediately pulling out some large sheets, Jar'ian proceeded to draw some detailed armor from multiple angles and including dimensions and possible materials. After finishing his drawings the two immediately went into discussing how to recreate the armor and how to make improvements.

"As you can see this part is clearly Thorium, and considering the metals the horde seem to favor it is likely that here they would use…"

At this point Alannasilvas heard enough to grow bored and went on her way get some traveling supplies.

(LATER THAT DAY, ABOUT THREE HOURS LATER)

"…as I continue to say boy, your mind for smithing is very much sharper than any blade you would ever forge."

"Well that would be easy since I don't make any blades Dak" Jar'ian chuckles.

"You know very well what I mean boy"

"Hahaha, yah I do, but I think I will just stick with armor making anyways. I think I have an easier time with that than blades."

"Well anyways I think we may be on to something with this new design I think we may even be able come up with matching pieces of leggings, boots, gauntlets, and maybe even a helm to boot! Now I just need to take this up with the others in the smith guild and get their approval on the design and get with those mages or priests and see what kinda blessings or enchants we can plant on these babies in regards to the materials used and for what purpose we feel the armor should fill."

"Well I'll leave that up to you old friend, but I would like to suggest that it be aligned more towards strengthening and empowering it's wearer more than providing great protection."

Surprised by that uncharacteristic request, "And why would you request that, Light?"

"I don't know. It just seems like this armor was made or designed for damage, just a feeling."

"Well I will take that into serious consideration and even push for it with those magic types."

"Thanks Dak, well its been long enough I gotta head back to Stormwind. I'm actually just coming back from an escort mission and I need to settle some things back at home."

"Heading back home from a mission and still made time to see little old me, huh. Well I feel just so special now. Next time through, you and me hit up the pub, got it?"

"Hahaha, you mean you get plastered and I make sure you get home to your wife so she doesn't take your smithing hammer to you again right?"

"Of course. Why else would anyone invite such a pious paladin like you to a night of drinking?" chuckled the old dwarf.

"Well looks like I'm holding things up for someone so I will get going now later you old alcoholic."

"Aye lad. I'll be seeing you around sometime."

With that Jar'ian started picking up his armor and began latching it on. Seeing this Alannasilvas realized just how heavy Jar'ian's armor was, and how easy he seemed to move with it regardless. It seemed like an impressive feat considering how old he was. She noted that his body seemed relatively younger than his face seemed to portray and that his lifestyle probably had much to do with it. The man was old enough to have retired years ago but was still a very active fighter and still a productive armor smith. But with these things she wondered how long even he could keep up this life style before age finally started taking its toll and winning the battle. How much longer before he would be required to hang up his hammer for good.

"Well should we get going again?"

"Yes lets. So how are we getting there?"

"Tran of course"

"Oh I so love taking the Tram to Stormwind, it's just so fun and exciting every time."

As they drew closer to the gnome populated district Jar'ian drew his helm over his head and seemed to make an effort to look as inconspicuous as possible. Alannasilvas took note of this with a peculiar twist of her face but said nothing.

After they passed the gnome area and made it into the Tram station did Jar'ian remove his helm and resumed his normal behaviors. Finding this quite odd Alannasilvas couldn't help but asked the question that was plaguing her.

"What was all that about?"

"What was what all about?"

"You know. That hiding."

With a sheepish shrug of his shoulders Jar'ian replied, "Oh that. Well it's just that a few years ago I was part of an expedition into Molten Core by both the Dwarves and Gnomes to retrieve anything and everything we could for them to study, as well as clear the area of any hostile threats we came across."

"That's it?"

Growing even more of a sheepish look as they entered the Tram, "Well no. You see we encountered some pretty hefty resistance, but we also made off with some pretty hefty hauls of artifacts and treasure."

At the word 'treasure' Alannasilvas' ears poked up and she seemed more eager and intent on what he had to say. This always seemed to amuse Jar'ian since he had never really encountered a night elf with a fascination with treasure before.

"One of the things I brought back apparently was a huge deal to the gnomes on an engineering kinda level and as a reward for my find they developed for me this huge devise to serve as a powerful mace. It seems it was even made from the object I brought back and they called it 'Finkle's Lava Dredger'. And I tell you what. It lived up to its name cause that baby could really grind into and smash down those lava creatures. It seemed to have little difficulty handling the lava's heat and all in all it seemed quite powerful." With that last statement Jar'ian's face seemed to twist with a sour expression.

"What was the problem?"

"The thing looked ridiculous! It had a large gear at the end of it that continued to spin at all times and the case was an ugly bright red!"

"I remember that now! You had that the first time I met you."

"Yes, well the expedition was such a success that our group was re-commissioned for a second go. Easy to say we came across even more treasure on this second pass…"

At those words, Alannasilvas' eyes seemed to enlarge more and took on a twinkling dreamy quality as she began to imagine all the treasure.

"…but unfortunately we also came across the apparent lord of that vile inferno the Firelord. We barely managed to drop him, we barely managed to make it out alive. Me along with all the priests we had, had our hands full just keeping the burns and fatigue in check. Safe to say we were not looking forward to going into there any time soon."

"It was this mission that finally lead to the Church presenting me with the Judgment leggings. Of all the pieces to present me for the destruction of the Old God Hakkar, the Firelord, and even this giant magical statues at that overrun excavation site, they had to present me with the legs! I'm sure they just wanted to see if I'd run around in one of those Inquisitor's plate dresses or not. As much as I admire the craftsmanship and power of the 'Judgment Set' I just do not agree with their view points and belief that they must go to such lengths to convert individuals to the Light or bring confessions out of criminals."

"Well if you ask me those guys give me the creeps. They just stare at everyone and hide behind those dark cowls of theirs. Sometimes I wonder how the both of you could be called paladins when you seem so different."

"I often wonder that myself…oh looks like we arrived."

"Great! Well I must be getting to the Grove, the Ambassador requires that I keep her appraised on my actions at all times, or she threatens that she'll see me back home, bound and gagged if need be."

"I myself must consult with the Archbishop as well as my fellow paladins."

"Well I guess I will be seeing you around some time?"

"Hehe…If the Light wills it. Well until next time Alannsilvas." With that Jar'ian was caught in a large flash of golden light, when the light faded Jar'ian was mounted atop his golden charger and bounding in the direction of the Church of Stormwind.

"Well looks like I got some questions to ask everyone on what they know about 'Lightbearer' huh 'Fluffy'?" Her lion just looked up at her curiously as she began to scratch behind his ear.

So what did you think? Please tell me. I hope I put enough action in for it being only the first chapter.