This story is being co-written by myself and 1st. Lieutenant Fae. With characters by her and story by me.
The streets of Goldshire were crowded, merchants, travelers, adventurers and citizens filled almost every foot of the small human town. Considering the number of people in town it was a pretty quiet day unlike it had been in the past.
It has been six months since Deathwing the Destroyer was defeated and the worldwide cataclysm that threatened Azeroth was brought to an end. The races of the world rejoiced as the news of the titanic dragon's death, with the cataclysm finally over the world and the elements that made it began calming down volcanic activity ceased and tidal waves no longer swelled from the oceans. Though the world was still heavily scarred and forever changed from the shattering peace seemed to return to Azeroth at last, or at least for a time.
With the threat of the World Eater removed the tenuous peace between the Horde and the Alliance has all, but been erased. With tensions between the two factions running higher than ever before it seemed all out war was inevitable. With the thought of another war and the recent devastation of the world every city and town was on edge with guards often arresting first and asking questions second, such had happened today.
"Move aside" a Stormwind guard yelled in a commanding tone as he led a group of five other guards through the town and to the Human capital city of Stormwind.
The six guards were escorting someone in restraints. The residents and visitors of Goldshire stared and began murmuring when they saw the person being escorted a female blood elf.
The prisoner was dressed in a high class amethyst robe with red rune like patterns stitched on its sleeves. Her pale skin reflected some of the light from the sun and her emerald eyes gleamed as she held her head up defiantly while allowing her captors to walk her out of Goldshire and toward the massive city.
It started in the Redridge Mountains near the Searing Peak; a dwarf had gone to Redridge for the day to do some fishing to feed his bear. While walking to the end of the dock over Lake Everstill he spotted a strange figure that was lurking around the foot of the mountains and alerted the town guards. The dwarf used his skills as a hunter to help the town guards track the suspicious figure to Searing Peak discovering a female blood elf surveying the area with a floating crystalline orb while writing something in a journal.
Taking the elf by surprise the guards quickly detained her before she could resist taking her orb and journal as well. While the lead guard attempted to question the captured elf the dwarf picked up her journal and began reading it only to realize it wasn't in Orcish, but Thalassian. Swearing the dwarf threw his arm toward the ground keeping a tight grasp on the elf's journal.
Stepping over to the blood elf he looked her in the eye and began speaking in Orcish, "Now you listen to me lass, this will go a whole lot easier on ya if ya cooperate. Now what were ye doing out here?"
The elf didn't answer; instead she merely glared at him, but not with anger or desperation, but defiance. The dwarf could tell from the look in her eyes she was strong willed and no amount of interrogation would break her. One of the guards suggested executing her or throwing her into the stockades in Stormwind, but the dwarf stopped him telling the guard captain that he knew someone who spoke fluent Thalassian in Stormwind and could help them translate the journal. The guard captain agreed with the dwarf's idea and decided to take their prisoner to Stormwind to have the journal translated and the prisoner interrogated.
Entering the gates of the city the guard captain from Lakeshire demanded that everyone keep their distance while they continued to escort the pale skinned elf toward the stockades while the dwarf headed for the city outskirts knowing just where his friend would be at this time of day. Walking along the edge of Olivia's Pond the dwarf along with his faithful pet a large brown mountain bear approached a male human lying on his back a few feet from the water's edge. The man had his hands cupped behind his white hair and one leg crossed over his curled knee his foot waving in the hair as he hummed a quiet tune to himself.
"How did I know I would find you here?" the dwarf said stopping next to him.
Hearing the dwarf's voice the human opened his eyes with a smile, "Hjoldar" he exclaimed jumping to his feet and holding his arms out, "How are ya you old drunk?"
"Not too bad" the dwarf answered, "Although I could go for a pint right now".
"So can I now that I think of it" the human replied with a hum, "So what brings you out here, fishing?"
"Fraid not" the dwarf answered handing him the journal, "Me and some o' the guards in Redridge captured a blood elf lass, we think she was out there spyin' on us".
Opening the journal, the human jumped to about halfway through the journal and skimmed over its entry, "I don't think she was spying" he said, "These seem like research notes…she may have been surveying the area for something".
The dwarf groaned and scratched his beard as his bear walked over to his human friend and nuzzled against his hand, "Now that you mention it she did have some kind of orb with her. It might have been some kind o' scrying device".
The human raised his hand and rubbed the bear's head keeping his eyes on his dwarven friend, "Take me to her".
The dwarf, Hjoldar led his friend back to the stockades, entering the interrogation chamber where they were keeping the female blood elf. Entering the interrogation chamber the dwarf introduced his friend to the guard captain.
"Captain I present to you Lance Elway, former member of the Argent Crusade and the Ashen Verdict".
The guard captain saluted them, "A pleasure. The hunter tells us you can speak Thalassian. I'd appreciate it if you could interrogate the prisoner and find out why she was in Redridge".
The human, Lance nodded casually; "Of course Captain" he glanced at the female blood elf sitting at the thick wooden table near them she was ignoring them or at least she seemed to be. Heavy iron restraints around her wrists with special runes etched into them to prevent any form of spell casting.
"Has she been harmed at all?" Lance asked the guard captain.
"No" the captain answered plainly, "She didn't put up much of a fight. Aside from being a bit stubborn she doesn't seem to care that she's here".
Hjoldar grumbled, "She does seem pretty calm, it's pretty obvious she's close to being thrown into a cell. That usually worries most people".
"Unless they have nothing to be afraid of" Lance said walking over to the blood elf and sitting across from her.
The elf slowly opened her eyes and looked directly into Lance's giving him a defiant glare.
Lance gave her a soft smile and greeted her in the native language of the blood elves, "Bal'a dash, malanore".
The elf let out a quiet gasp and her glare vanished becoming a look of surprise.
Lance continued, "Doral ana'diel?"
The elf's glare returned a bit softer and she turned away from him not answering his question. There was a brief silence in the room as Lance waited to see if she would answer him, but once it became clear she wouldn't he sighed and asked Hjoldar to hand him the elf's journal. The elf watched from the corner of her eye as Hjoldar handed the journal to his friend.
Raising the journal for the elf to see Lance again spoke in Thalassian telling her he knew that the journal contained research notes, but to prove it he needed her to cooperate. The elf's eyebrows twitched showing she heard him, but was still debating with herself is she could or should trust him. After another short term of silence Lance opened the journal and began reading the first page it was dated a little over three years ago.
"Since the death of Malygos and the end of the Nexus War the natural magic of the world has grown…stronger, but not in a good way. I fear that without the Spellweaver to preside over the magic of the world something terrible will happen. I do not wish to cause a false panic however and will look into the matter more before revealing it to my fellow magi in the Kirin Tor hopefully I'm just paranoid".
The next entry was dated a few weeks later, "My fears have been realized with Malygos' death the ley lines across Azeroth have become unstable. While magic is still able to be drawn from them without much consequence there is a slight change in their patterns each time. The best way I can describe it is as followed, each line seems to have its own pulse, much like the living beings of the world and just like a pulse it can become weaker or dangerously high. The pulse of the ley lines are acting in such a way and at random or at least this is my first impression on the matter I must study the anomaly further to be certain".
"Hmm, interesting" Lance muttered looking up to the blood elf who had closed her eyes again, but she was visibly frustrated now, "So you are concerned about these ley lines?" he asked her in Thalassian.
The elf opened her eyes and finally spoke, "The world is in danger, release me at once" she demanded in her native language.
"I wish I could" Lance calmly replied to her, "But I need a sign of good faith on your part" he tapped his finger on the journal, "What is this all about?"
Once again she fell silent forcing Lance to continue reading to discover his answers.
The third entry was dated half a year later and just a few days after the Lich King was defeated, "The world is still in celebration of course I can't blame them. The dreaded Lich King has finally been defeated and the scourge that threatened the world is no longer a threat when I heard I could not help, but weep with joy all of my friends and family who were lost when the undead armies marched through my homeland had finally been avenged, but I do not have time to join in the rejoicing. After studying the anomalies occurring within the ley lines I have confirmed that they are in danger, at random intervals some will weaken while others will become violently active and in varying intensities. I've noticed the ley line running through the ruins of the former Dalaran seems to be the most active. Focusing my studies on this line may yield more results to base my theories on and allow a better understanding on what's happening and hopefully a way to stop it".
As Lance finished reading the third entry the guard captain grew tired of waiting, "How much longer is this going to take?" he barked, "What does the journal say? More importantly should we throw her in the stockades?"
Lance rolled his shoulders back and let out an irritated sigh, "At ease captain, I'm beginning to think our guest is no threat to us or at least she does not intend us harm. I don't think she was spying on us, she seems to have been investigating something".
"Investigating our defenses is more like it" the captain snorted.
Lance moved his tranquil blue eyes back to the blood elf across from him and gave her a friendly smile, "Captain remove her restraints".
"What?" the captain gasped, "You must be joking".
Lance waved his hand to the captain in a nonchalant manner, "There is no need to worry she will behave. If it puts you at ease I will take full responsibility for anything that happens".
"Are ye sure about this Lance?" Hjoldar asked him, "She is a member of the Horde after all can we really trust her?"
Lance smiled at the old hunter, "I know what I'm doing old friend, trust me".
Sighing Hjoldar reinforced Lance's decision to remove the prisoner's restraints and with insistence from both sides the guard captain caved and removed the elf's restraints much to her surprise.
"Better?" Lance asked her in Thalassian.
The elf nodded, "Thank you" she answered rubbing her wrists, "What are you going to do with me?"
Lance indicated her journal, "That depends on you, I would like to set you free, but you have to come clean. I'm guessing from what's in here that you were in Redridge surveying another ley line, correct?"
The elf nodded, "My si…I originally believed whatever was happening to the ley lines would take years to become dangerous, but since the cataclysm their condition seems to have worsened. I've been traveling to each ley line to monitor them and each one has fluctuated almost a dozen times within a week where before it never happened more than a few times, but that's not all. Their condition, the pulse within them when they fluctuate reaches dangerous extremes, at one point I observed a line almost flatline it remained in a severely weakened state for several hours before it returned to normal while another line almost exploded".
"So what's causing it?" Lance asked her, "And have you determined a way to stop it?"
She shook her head, "The causes are obvious, with the death of Malygos the stored magical energies within the Nexus became unstable and were returned to the world in an unregulated state and after Deathwing's return they became worse".
Lance politely stopped her, "Didn't a dragon replace Malygos as the aspect of the blue dragonflight?"
The elf nodded, "Yes, but he may have not noticed the condition of the ley lines with the threat of the Destroyer being a more immediate issue and after the aspects sacrificed their immortality I fear they may have lost some of their abilities as well, but I cannot confirm that without meeting one of them".
"I see" Lance sighed, "So what would happen if this situation went unmonitored?"
The blood elf lowered her eyes, "Best case scenario, the magic in our world would cease to be of use to even the most skilled of mages".
"And worst case?"
She looked away trying to repress the fear in her voice, "Worst case…another cataclysm one caused by unstable magic that won't just damage the surface of the world…it will shatter Azeroth from the inside completely destroying everything".
Lance took a moment to allow her words to sink in after a minute of silence he closed the journal and looked back to her, "I should inform the king of this".
The blood elf asked him to take her with him to see the king wanting to address him herself. Lance politely protested the idea knowing the hatred the king of Stormwind has for the Horde, but the blood elf insisted saying if her saw the concern in her eyes he would believe her. Lance took another moment to think on her suggestion; she had shown no signs of deception so far and sounded legitimately concerned about the ley lines. The king would no doubt want to confirm the situation for himself if he could be persuaded to actually look into the matter first, but if it turned out to be true there's no way he would choose to ignore it.
"Very well" Lance said, "I will take you to him, but I do not think he understands Thalassian, I trust you know Orcish?"
The elf nodded, "I do…I just did not wish to speak to your companions earlier".
"Alright then" Lance said in common as he rose to his feet and stretched his arms out. The blood elf stood up as well prompting the guard captain to swiftly draw his sword, but Lance stopped him.
"It's alright Captain, we shall take her to the king and she will tell him her story directly".
"Not a chance" the guard growled, "You must be insane if you think I'm going to let this Horde scum walk freely through the city streets".
"I will be escorting her personally" Lance told him.
"I don't care" the guard snapped, "She's not going anywhere, but to a cell in the stockades".
Lance raised his voice, "Captain as a paladin and former member of the Ashen Verdict I personally vouch for her and will place my own reputation and personal honor on the line should anything go wrong" his voice returned to normal, "Now kindly step aside".
The guard stood his ground his eyes glaring daggers at Lance and the blood elf forcing Lance to a desperate alternative.
"You're outnumbered" he told him.
"Are you threatening me?" he asked Lance.
"Only if I must" Lance explained, "But I believe she means us no ill-will, but she does have a troublesome concern and as a citizen of Stormwind it is my duty as well as yours to bring something of this magnitude directly to the king. Now stand aside or I will be forced to go through you".
With an aggravated sigh the captain backed down and sheathed his weapon, "Very well, but should anything happen and I mean anything I will have your head".
Lance gave him an amused grin, "I'd be disappointed if you settled for anything less".
The guard captain left the chamber to tell the others guards that the prisoner was to be taken to the king. In the meantime Lance turned to his friend Hjoldar and asked him to go to the keep ahead of him and inform the king that they would be arriving shortly. The dwarven hunter nodded and left as the guard captain returned with the same set of restraints he took off the blood elf saying she would not leave without them, but Lance stopped him from placing them on her saying there is no reason to subject her to such treatment.
"I don't care" he snapped to Lance, "A member of the Horde will not be allowed into my city without proper restraints".
"I'm done talking to you" Lance sighed, "She will be under my escort that should be enough for you. She is showing good faith by cooperating it's only right for us to respond in kind".
"Whether it's right or not is not the case" the captain told him, "Even if I believed she would cause no trouble I must make sure there's no way she can harm the citizens and that means she wears these".
Lance sighed again, "Alright just hurry up and be nice about it".
"Yeah I'll be a perfect gentleman" he said sarcastically as he walked to the blood elf who already had her wrists held out for him.
With the restraints in place the guard captain allowed Lance to leave with the prisoner. Once clear stockades and the other guards Lance reached into his pocket and pulled out a skeleton key made from titanium and unlocked her restraints and threw them to the side as they continued down the streets of the city. The elf thanked him again rubbing her wrists. As they passed through Cathedral Square the blood elf slowly turned around to take in the sights commenting on how peaceful the city appeared. Lance smiled and agreed with her, but admitted he preferred more serene places such as Darnassus and Silvermoon.
"You've been to Silvermoon?" she asked him.
Lance nodded, "Yes it was a long time ago, but I have been to Silvermoon before. I was there when the scourge marched into Quel'Thalas".
The blood elf's eyes widened, "I thought the Alliance refused to send us aid that day".
"They did" Lance admitted, "But myself along with a few others refused to accept such a decision. At the time your people were are allies and helped us multiple times and when you needed us most we were to just abandon you, I refused to allow that. We arrived only a few hours before the scourge and told your generals that we would engage them first to buy them more time to prepare their defenses".
"Why was this never mentioned?" she asked him.
Lance shook his head, "I'm not sure. Maybe everyone who knew died in the battle or they held on to their feelings of betrayal and refused to publicly acknowledge our assistance…either way it does not matter. Even though a great number of you died your race still survived" he paused and sighed, "I must take solace in that".
"How did you survive?" she asked him.
Lance shook his head again, "Perhaps another time, even though it was several years ago it is a painful memory that is still fresh in my mind".
She apologized, "I didn't mean to pry".
Lance dismissed her apology, "No it's quite alright I just do not wish to speak of it yet…" he stopped halfway through the Dwarven District, "I just realized I haven't asked your name yet".
"Aranya" she began, "Aranya Leafspear".
Lance politely bowed to her, "Paladin Lance Elway at your service milady".
"You're a paladin?" she asked him.
Lance nodded and began walking again, "When the situation calls for it. What about you, any specialties?"
"I'm a mage" she told him.
"That makes sense" he hummed, "Well at any rate it's a pleasure to meet you".
"Likewise" she nodded as they approached the keep.
Stopping again Lance saluted the guards who were waiting for them.
Entering the keep he looked to Aranya, "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but be respectful it will help".
Aranya nodded as they approached the throne room and she laid eyes on the king of Stormwind, "Don't worry I will, I have no desire to give him a reason to not trust me".
The king's eyes met hers, but Aranya merely smiled and bowed to him introducing herself as she did.
A/N. Well that's chapter 1, originally we weren't planning on doing this until after Memorial Day weekend since we're both preparing for Animazement in Raleigh, North Carolina this week, but I decided to go ahead and get it done so it would stop occupying my to-do-list and thoughts.
That aside I hope you all enjoyed it and will be looking forward to the next chapter, until then (Insert preferred racial farewell here).