Prologue
The night air was cold and the wind bitter, all the forests inhabitants huddled around fires in an attempt to stay warm. Even those in the plagued region of the forest fought against the cold, and it was in the deepest corner of the corrupted woods where it landed; from the Sentinel's perspective it looked like a falling star, but it was far from anything they had ever imagined. In an explosion of earth, swamp and fire a gigantic crystalline object now made its home in Victory Forest and thus did the nightmare begin.
Chapter 1
The air was cool and the forest peaceful as Rikimaru patrolled the banks of Blood-bond River that dissected Victory Forest, so named for the war that ended here several years ago; where The Sentinel defeated The Burning Legion, The Eternity War. The Sentinel was an alliance started by the Night Elves, which encompassed most of the natural tribes of the land and themselves, in an effort to stem the spread of The Burning Legion, an extra dimensional Demonic army famous for invading entire worlds and leaving nothing but flame wrought and blood drenched destruction in their wake. The battle had seemed to be a minor inconvenience for The Legion, until a handful of warriors made a stand and led a grand rush into the demons' ranks. These heroes led the charge that ended the war and today reside as the senior most members of the Sentinel Council;
Furion Stormrage, a druid of Nightelf decent specializing in weaving the magic of the natural world around him,
Zeus, an ancient Dwarf belonging to a race referred to as the Earthen who also claims to be a God that was cast out of his own kingdom,
Ezalor, a High Elf Archmage who fled his homeland after the Legion laid siege to the holy city of Dalaran,
Syllabear, a Druid of the Claw, specializing in communion with the earth, and commanding a fearsome Bear companion, and
Chen, an old Orc Mage specializing in healing spells who left his own people in search of a higher purpose,
Rikimaru's eyes gathered tears as he recalled the brethren he lost on the day of that battle, and the former allies he was forced to kill; Rikimaru was a Satyr and his race was created by The Legion to be their servants. Rikimaru was chosen by his Father, the self-proclaimed King of the Satyr, to be the Prince of his race as his skin and fur was a deep violet in colour and was rare among the satyrs. The first thing Rikimaru did with his new authority was to betray his father and rally as many of his brethren against the demons' tyrannical rule. His band of outcasts was inducted into the Sentinel ranks and he was made Leader of the advanced scout party due to his prowess with stealth and reconnaissance.
The wind changed direction and he sniffed the air again and crinkled his nose, he had picked up a foul stench, for while the forest he stood at was pure and healthy, across the river the land was diseased and plagued by dark magic and the essence left in the wake of the demonic presence that inhabited it not too long ago. Master Stormrage had said that it would take much time to purge the land of the blight which infested it, but in time all will be well again.
Rikimaru wiped the tears from his eyes and readied to head back to base, but as he turned he noticed movement on the edge of the diseased forest, across the river. His keen eyes picked up the movement but he was not sure what it was, but it could have just been an animal or one of the natives, probably a Centaur or Kobold. "The past has made me paranoid," he smiled to himself then made his way through the forest to give another short and boring report to his superiors.
During the Eternity War, the Sentinel created three paths that cut the forest into sections so that they could move large numbers of troops through the woodland with little hindrance, in truth however they were following the example of the Legion who had already done the same up to Blood-bond River. The Sentinel's paths went North and East to meet at right angles with the Legion's paths which moved West and South. Then there were the two paths that met in the middle, at the crossing of the river; the Central path. On each path their stood three Ancient Protectors, large tree like beings capable of great strength and wisdom, spaced apart along the paths. These Protectors were dubbed towers mainly due to their awesome height.
It was just off the Central Path, not far from the first tower that Rikimaru found Meepo, a Kobold Geomancer, ambling along, deep in thought. "Hail ally Meepo," Rikimaru said to his comrade and the short purple creature lifted his head and nodded. Kobolds were a race of sentient rodents who spent nearly all of their lives underground, and prided themselves on being master tunneler. The Geomancers of the Kobolds were similar to Druids and Shamans, except they drew their power directly from the earth's magical energies, instead of the forces of nature. Rikimaru knew very little of the Kobold as his was a recent pledge to the Sentinel, but he did know that Meepo was normally very cheerful and now he seemed to have something distressing on his mind. "Is something the matter my friend?" despite not knowing him for very long, Rikimaru still considered Meepo a friend. "Indeed, but you will hear when I give my report," Meepo's voice was guttural almost like a growl; most Kobolds' were from spending most of their lives tunneling and mining. They walked the remainder of the journey in silence, Rikimaru anxious to hear Meepo's report.
The Command base was fairly quiet, with most of the Sentinel troops on patrol and others away on assignments, but the night elves and satyrs felt the negativity that Meepo's report would bring and they started to observe his movements quietly. Meepo, being the head of the construction division, held the ability to address the council directly and chose to exercise his right almost immediately after entering Sentinel headquarters. He approached Furion, who was conversing with a large bear-like creature known as a Furblog. Furion and Meepo spoke quietly for a few seconds and Furion nodded, beckoning Meepo to the Council Seats. Seeing this, all those present gathered around the council seats, Rikimaru made his way to the front of the crowd, his people making way for their prince.
The council seats were arranged in a semicircle with the actual seats facing the rest of the base, and each seat was unique, although two were empty. Malfurion's looked like a growth of flowering vines, Zeus's was made of polished granite, smooth and silver, and Ezalor's seat was golden and glowed with magic. The two empty seats belonged to Chen and Syllabear and were currently, by request, covered in leaves and twigs. All attention focused on Meepo as he approached the now seated council members, "My Lords," he spoke with his usual growling voice, "Two days ago I dispatched, with your approval, a team to travel into the plagued lands and assess the availability of usable raw resources, but I have lost contact with them." A quiet murmur rose from the crowd. "I wish your permission to find them myself…" "Permission denied," Ezalor said in a rude tone, cutting him off before he could finish, "you are needed here as you are the head of construction, or do you need to be reminded of your duties here?" Before Meepo could answer, Furion spoke, "I agree with Ezalor, we cannot afford to send you there, especially if there is danger." That's when Rikimaru stepped forward, without thinking, and said "I will go and find the missing Kobolds."