So, yes...I've decided to write some WoW fanfiction! Oh no! Run for the hills! (Cough) Anyway, yes...this is a fanfic that covers the Netherwing quests, dailies, etc. So hard to guess from the title, eh? Anyway, some backgroundish info... The main character is my NE hunter, and just for reference for those who want to imagine it playing out in their heads...she wears mostly t4. If you want to see her armor, just look her up int eh Armory...she's the only NE hunter there, so not too hard to find her. Anyway! Some of the stuff, like maybe backstories for any npcs/OCs or whatnot, is made up, while other things are actually true in lore, or in-game.
And Vista is retarded. Some new update had it ask me if I'm SURE I wanted to continue with CREATING a new folder, MOVING a file into that folder... Sheesh... -.- Anyway:
Disclaimer: Don't own any bit of Warcraft save my account and characters
I hope you enjoy, and if you'd like, leave a review to say if I did well, horribly, whatever. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! :)
Err...last note: Flame me and they'll just fan the flames of the funeral pyres for all those gankers out there. And I'll laugh. So, umm..don't say things like "ZOMG liek hordez is so much better than Alliancez!" or vice-versa. No arguments, please...while I prefer Alliance, you are allowed your own opinions, and I respect them; This is not to start a war, and I will delete any comments/reviews that do so. This is merely a story, so please allow it to remain as such.
Now you may read...sorry about the horribly long Author's Note... :D;
Netherwing
One: Kindness
A tall figure astride a midnight horse slowly strode through the desolate region, a pristine white owl flying softly at it's side. The bird softly churred as it glanced to it's left at the figure-it's master.
"Hush, Soren." The figure turned her head to gently silence the owl. Her silvery, pupiless eyes glimmered in the moonlight that shone above, and her long ears twitched slightly at the silence that hung before them. Her mouth, set into a smile, was a dark pink-violet, a shade deeper than that of her skin. Soren fluttered up to her face an snatched a string of her long, blue hair in it's beak. "Oh, stop it..." She whispered, forcing back a chuckle. The bird seemed to slightly understand her whims and released the blue thread. It paused a moment, flapping up and down, before it turned and settled onto the horn of her saddle. She sighed, smiling all the wider. "Silly owl..."
The kaldorei huntress' eyes glanced at the sky as her head tilted an upward angle. Streams of...color flowed throughout the sky. In this land, it was difficult to discern whether it was day or night, save the light of the sun. It was the Twisting Nether that lay above and around the land ever since the portal that the old orc shaman, Ner'zhul, had opened ripped asunder the already dying world. She had heard the story from some of her companions back in Honor Hold, and she knew from it that located in the eastern portion of this ash-soiled, green lava-spewing region was a temple where the shaman had opened said portal. 'Portals,' she corrected herself mentally. 'It would be good if you had your facts straight, Kayrana...'
Her steed snorted as it stepped at the top of the hill which overlooked a sin'dorei settlement. A mere two buildings stood tall beneath her vantage point, but she knew the elves within the enclave below were not to be underestimated. Sometimes, she wondered if she should have deigned to not join the Scryers, but...as much as she despised the blood elves for their magics and addiction, she had gained a sense of respect for their cause against their former "king," Kael'thas.
"Come on, Ishnudrassil..." She murmured to the horse. Kayrana had received the stallion after being promoted by her superiors of the Alliance to the rank of Sergeant. It was one of few horses that had once survived a stable being burned to the ground and thus she had accordingly named the steed Ishnudrassil, or "crown of luck" in the Darnassian tongue.
"It's not yet time for rest..." She murmured, nudging the horse to tread down the hill and pass the Sanctum of the Stars. The night elf saluted a few of the blood elf guards as she passed and was honored in return. She wondered how it was they could recognize her as one of the Scryers, but she soon forgot about it once she arrived in a field littered with glistening crystal formations.
Netherwing Fields is what it was called. Her keen vision caught flickers of movement in the sky and she inspected it further. Her ears heard the violent flapping of the dragons' wings before she even recognized it for what it was. Nether drakes of different sizes, colors and shape flew in the air, circling. The elf frowned. 'Why might they stay aloft? Why might not even one come down...?' She glanced briefly to her left and saw a ripped, torn body of a small, black nether drake sprawled across the earth. Quickly, she snapped her gaze back to the above. 'Do they suffer death if they come to the ground?' As she was a seasoned tracker and huntress, she knew the signs the dead drake to her left was attacked by some sort of creature and assumed that it was the reason they would not land.
A voice from behind spoke softly, "Something has them spooked, night elf." Were she not an elf nor a huntress, she would have jumped. Instead, she only mildly flinched. Her body turned to see a solemn-looking bloo-no...he didn't radiate magic as clearly as a blood elf did. It was a solemn-looking high elf with long, silvery-blond hair that was fashioned into a ponytail at the top and a bow at his back. He wore thick chainmail armor and two sharp, seemingly magicked axes on his sides. He nodded his head towards the skies, towards the dragons. "They won't even come down to feed. I have seen several fall to the earth, dead from exhaustion before their bodies even hit the ground."
"So that's why that one over there..." She began. The high elf nodded sadly.
"And then the rock flayers shred their bodies and feed. Nonetheless...if they don't eat something before long..." He shook his head, and the night elf knew the words left unsaid. "We must save them!" The huntress hesitated. "Please..." After a moment, she nodded.
"I am Kayrana Nightfrost...and you are?"
"Mordenai." He replied. "Do you see the rock flayers gathered around the crystals?" Again, Kayrana nodded. "Though they may eat those remains...they are the dragons' natural prey. If you can kill one, just bring it's carcass out in the open and step back a bit. Have no weapon unsheathed, make no hostile motion, and stand extremely still. As long as they do so, they won't attack you." Thrice it was that she had nodded. He smiled. "Thank you, Kayrana. I cannot do this alone."
"Sael'ah." She said in turn. "I will do my best." She dismounted and whispered in her native tongue for Ishnudrassil to return to the sanctum. The horse was intelligent enough to understand the elven words and went off to the Scryer encampment. Soren fluttered over her shoulder, watching her grab her bow and plucking an arrow from her quiver to fit to the bowstring. She parted from the high elf to begin her hunt for the rock flayers, leaving Mordenai with a small smile and a warmth in his heart.
XXXXX
Kayrana wiped the sweat off her brow as she placed yet another corpse in the middle of the field and stepped back. A cobalt drake dove form the sky after sighting the meat, and hovered a moment above her before deciding that she meant it no harm. It landed and ravenously snapped up the corpse in its maw. The drake looked up and locked eyes with her. Kayrana held her breath.
"Belan shi karkun." The dark blue dragon said before it took off again for the skies. The night elf let go of the breath she had "held."
"There are so many of them..." She commented to her owl as she watched it rise. "I wonder if I would indeed be able to save them all..." Her companion spoke not a word. She reached to her back and pulled another arrow, stringing it. "I...hope so." She took aim at one of the closest rock flayer and fired after a moment. She could use no poison for this, as she was feeding these creatures to something she meant to save, not kill. The creature was felled from the fatal shot, but she heard a screech of anger as soon as she stepped forward to retrieve the carcass. Three rock flayers, one grown with spines protruding from its back, were charging her.
Kayrana muttered a curse and directed Soren at one of the smaller ones while she pulled her large axe from her back. She swung it with strength that might be surprising to one who did to know much about her kind, and the blade sunk deep into another smaller flayer's side, severing an arm in the process. She grimaced at the surge of blood, but yanked her bloody weapon free to block the larger flayer's assault. She stole a look at her companion and saw him pecking and clawing furiously at his opponent, quickly dodging attacks with a flap of his wings. She diverted her attention back to the matter at hand and hacked at the disfigured rock flayer, lopping off its head. It collapsed to the ground, but Kayrana failed to react in time to the adult flayer. The adult, driven by a lust for her blood at the death of two of its companions, slashed wildly. Its right claws scratched only against her brown-tinted pauldrons, but its left claws scored a glancing blow in between the small plates on her arms.
Kayrana grimaced in pain, but ignored it for the major part. She parried the next blow, but the large weapon was too unwieldy to counter its constant, increasingly feverish strikes. She caught herself wishing she still carried her old lance, but there was no time to dwell on it. She noticed Soren's foe weakening, but not soon enough. If the pace of her opponent's attacks continued escalating, she feared she would be completely unable to hold it off by herself... Were there a space of time that she could fill it with arrows, she would gladly do so...but there was no such chance. Gritting her teeth, she stood her ground against the flayer's many claws, catching them with her axe. She struggled against it, eventually managing a stalemate of a sort. Grunting, she readied herself for a final, near-desperate push...but found she did not have to.
Almost the elf stumbled from the force opposing her own faltering. She saw a dark shape club it with a mighty, outstretched forearm, knocking it into the crystal formation behind it. It twitched a moment and then lay still, non-breathing. Surprised, the kaldorei huntress lowered her war axe and took a look at her savior. It was a large azure nether drake which watched her with glowing eyes much like her own.
"Th-thank you..." She murmured. She knew it was no dumb beast, not only by its presence, but by her own learnings and experiences. After all, the druids communed with the Green Dragonflight in the Emerald Dream, did they not? The nether drake nodded, watching her for a moment before walking off and disappearing into the field. Soren soon after returned to her side with a bloody beak and crimson talons.
"Good job..." She patted his snowy feathered head for praise, and he seemed happy for helping his mistress. She wiped her blade in the dust of the ashy soil to remove the flayer blood that dripped down it's edges. Satisfied that little to none of the fluid remained on the weapon, she placed it back inside its latches that were connected to her bow. The night elf crouched, took hold of two of the beheaded corpse's limbs and began to drag it out into the open so a dragon might feast on it. She did the same for the other three flayers that had been slain.
A group of drakes descended from the sky, one (Kayrana thought of it as the wisest of the group) glancing about the fields warily before it touched ground. The dragons scarfed down the meal and took off. The cautious one nodded its thanks to her as it soon followed the rest of its kind into the night sky.
The night elf frowned. She had not even begun to think how long she had been in the fields, doing this task that was asked of her. She, a nocturnal being by nature, yawned. Even she was getting tired from the long day. If only she had not had to adjust to the diurnal schedule of all the other Alliance races... She sighed. 'It cannot be helped.' She turned around to put her back against the mountains that surround the fields on three sides to face the only non-mountainous side. "Soren, we will find Mordenai and retreat to the Sanctum for rest for the night if that is fine with you." The bird made no protests nor sounds of refusal. "All right, then let us find Morde-"
"Hello again, Kayrana." The high elf approached her with a smile. "You've done well today, and I-and I am sure the Netherwing flight- thank you. You are a kind and compassionate night elf, my friend." She smiled in turn.
"My kind has ties with a kind of dragon...I think that it is almost my duty to help them." She responded. He frowned.
"So, you did it only for duty?"
"N-no! It's just...I imagine it would be, but...I..." She thought for a moment, wincing at his sad expression. "I wanted to help them to just help them as well...there are more than one reasons why I helped...mostly because I wanted to." The high elf seemed to brighten at that.
"I see...thank you. Would you..." He paused, seeming to be in deep thought. "Would you happen to want to help us...them...even more than you already have?"
"What do you mean, Mordenai?" Her expression became curious. He looked above, and her gaze followed.
"The patriarch of the flight could tell you what ails the flight..." High in the sky, she thought she saw the figure of a huge nether dragon flying. Mordenai continued, "but...if you would accept the task, well...the tasks are difficult, but you seem able. Should you accomplish the tasks...the rewards would be great, and we...they would be forever in your debt." We...they... Questions began forming in her mind: Questions of what he meant by those words, questions of if she could do the tasks, questions of if she wanted to accept the tasks.
Her face must have betrayed her inner conflict, for he said, "You do not need to decide now. Though the quicker the better...you can have the night to decide. I just ask that you see me in the morning with your answer, whatever it may be." She was grateful for this allowance of time, and she nodded.
"Thank you...I will see you in the morning, then. Elune'Adore." She nodded her farewell and passed him by, Soren fluttering after.
Once she went out of earshot, Mordenai murmured, "If she would agree...then I believe we would have enough to carry out our plans... Mother, we'll save you..."
XXXXX
"Sergeant!" A familiar voice bellowed at her once Kayrana stepped into the Sanctum's grounds.
"Commander!" She replied in turn with a salute. There stood near the entrance of the grounds a male, red-haired blood elf with an air of command swirling about him. His armor was akin to hers, save for his being of a black variation. After she stepped nearer to him, he frowned.
"Kayrana, what's wrong? You seem troubled." She glanced around.
"Could we talk in the sanctum?" The blood elf's frown remained, but he nodded. Kayrana sent Soren off to the stables to be fed and rest for the night. The sin'dorei commander led the way towards the sanctum and upstairs.
"Commander Hobb" he was called to nearly everyone, except for (sometimes) those he knew on a personal level. It was known that he did mischief when he was younger, and so he had joined Kael'thas' legions, announcing himself sarcastically as "Private Hobb." However, even now, in the Scryers, the name had stuck. His true name was Arinar Sunwing, but almost no one knew that because he was always called by his nickname.
As she was led up the ramp by her friend, Kayrana thought back to months ago. Months ago, she hated the blood elves for betraying the Alliance, their, to her, reckless magics, and their magical addiction. However...once she joined the Scryers, she slowly began to see that they were not all as bad as she thought. She had met Arinar on the battlefield against Illidan's forces, and formed a fast friendship. Though it saddened her about his and every other blood elves' addiction, she ignored it and looked at who he was, seeing a friend. She never would have thought she'd have a friend of the sin'dorei, but Elune, here she was with one.
"So," He began once they stopped at a balcony of the sanctum. "what's bothering you, Kayrana?" His countenance was worried. The night elf sighed.
"I just have a lot on my mind. I went into Netherwing Fields today...and met a high elf there who was just wandering around."
"Mordenai?" She blinked.
"Yes...how did you know?"
Hobb's gaze went towards the direction of the fields. "He came here the other day, requesting aid, but almost no one wanted to go, nor was there anyone whom I could spare."
"I see..." She put her arms on the rails. "I helped him by killing some of those rock flayers and feeding them to the nether dragons that are flying around... When I was done, he approached me and asked if I wanted to help further."
"And you can't decide what to do?" She nodded.
"That, and...other questions... Who is he and why is he wanting to help the dragons so badly? Would I be able to help? Be able to without...without dying?" She muttered softly. "Or worse, failing..." She lowered her head and shook it. "I'm not sure that I can..." The blood elf hesitated, but then put an arm around her.
"Don't worry about it...if you choose to do it, I imagine you'd do fine." He flashed her a smile. "You are one of the best archers we have in my command...and you're quick, strong...and you're smarter than a rock." She laughed quietly.
"I guess so..."
"You guess?" His face was incredulous. "You mean to tell me that you are dumber than a rock?"
Her laughter raised its volume a notch. "No, no...I am smarter than a rock, I can assure you. And I am a pretty good shot form my experiences, like you said..." She smiled. "Thanks, Hobb. I think..I will try to help the dragons and Mordenai...whoever he is."
"I wish you luck...I don't want to have to be pelted with night elven arrows if I try to give your body to your family." She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, yes...I will be careful, don't worry."
"Good. Now go get some rest for tomorrow. I need to return to my post." She nodded.
"Good night, Commander. Elune'Adore." She took her leave of her friend, walking down the ramp and heading into another room where she would get rest. Her last thoughts were wondering what exactly the said "tasks" were. And breakfast. She wondered what she would eat for breakfast before she left. With that last, unimportant thought, she succumbed to the realm of Dreams and sleep.