AN: Ficlet about the Sha of Fear's redemption, since a few people wanted to see it. The OC is the soon-to-be-Empress of the Mantid. She has no in game name, so I named her similar to her mother. Shay'zeera. Shay has to deal with the presence of the Sha of Fear and his remnants in her mother's throne room, where she learns the nuances of ruling from the Klaxxi'va and her bodyguards. At night, however, when she is alone, there is no one to protect her from Fear and his machinations.
Fear of the Mantid
Shay'zeera, called Shay by her closest bodyguards, rested fearfully and trembled in the amber cocoon or hammock or whatever it was called that she slept in. Always at night, the violet light came. It came, and so did the nightmares. Nightmares showing the weak, lesser races destroying her mother, killing the former Empress when all she'd done was try to make changes to how her race worked.
Shay knew she could never even try to make changes, no matter what. They would all think she was corrupted by the darkness of the Sha. She worshiped the great god Y'shaarj and his former human avatar Garrosh Hellscream, but now that he was gone, she had no god to worship, nothing to believe in except the fear.
The almost silken violet walls seemed to pulse like a living thing. They weren't the amber she was so used to in her palace. The amber the guards used to protect her. She'd been encased in amber for months until her mother had been freed of the Sha's influence. They didn't know that Fear always came back. That there was no destroying Fear, or escaping it.
Shay wrapped herself tightly in the soft, amber cocoon and tried to block out Fear's whispers. She drifted off to sleep, and for once, no nightmares came. Fear, for once, had grown tired of scaring a child.
Elsewhere, the Mantid guards, diligently guarding the small room where their future Empress lay, were shocked when a pandaren approached. Most pandaren were too afraid or too weak to bypass the Klaxxi'va and all the most powerful Mantid guarding the future Empress.
Kavor'tik dropped his jaw. A child!? A pandaren child had bypassed their defenses? She was skipping merrily along the amber and stone steps humming a little tune to herself. When she reached the guard, she smiled at them, opening wide, startling green eyes.
"Hi, Mister! Can I see the Empress, pretty please? I want to bring a gift! It's always rude if you don't bring a new ruler a gift, you see! Emperor Shaohao said that." She held out something, which appeared to be nothing more than a small stone made of smooth jade.
Kavor just shook his head at her. "I have no idea how you made it past all the guards and all of your enemies, little one, but the Mantid do not make deals with pandaren, even children."
"Please let her in. I just...I just want to talk to someone close to my own age for once." It was Shay'zeera, future Empress.
"My Lady, you are not Empress yet, and you have no power over us. I'm afraid I can't do that." Kavor bowed regardless.
Shay's eyes twinkled with tears, more evident than ever in her huge, insect eyes.
"Please, Kavor. I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll pay you triple out of the treasury, and when I'm Empress, I'll make you my personal bodyguard. Please." Tears continued to sparkle in Shay's eyes.
Kavor was far too soft for a Mantid. Honestly, he should have died during the climb, but his body had been far stronger than his mind ever would. The other guard was sleeping. When that had happened, he had no idea.
The tiny female panda was smiling innocently at him. He sighed. "Alright. But not for long. Once you do speak to Shay'zeera, you must leave immediately lest you be killed by less lenient members of the guard." He stepped aside and let the child in.
The little panda girl bowed and thanked Kavor. "Your wisdom is wasted here, Kavor'tik." She said before entering the chambers of the princess, leaving Kavor dumbstruck.
The little panda girl looked around the chamber, at the living violet walls, at the amber cocoon Shay slept in, at the pulsing floor of her palace room. She smiled. "It's pretty. I like purple. Purple is a royal color."
She went over to the wall and reached out to stroke it. Shay intended to shout a warning, that the purple was the essence of the Sha of Fear, but the little girl just ran her hand over it as if it were simply fine silk.
She giggled. "It's alive! Does it talk to you? If it didn't, I would get lonely being in here all by myself, wouldn't you?"
Shay stared at the pandaren girl. "It's...it's...Fear. The remnants of the Sha of Fear. The one that killed my mother. That made my people kill my mother. It wants to do the same thing to me."
The little girl giggled. "Oh, dear, we can't have that! Feeearrrrrr! Come out, come out where ever you are! I don't wanna play hide and seek anymore!" She put her hands on her hips and glared at the room.
The violet in the walls sank to the floor and coalesced into a massive being, covered in purple and blue. The Sha of Fear. Weakened, but not gone. Never gone. Fear ALWAYS came back. Always.
"Yuuu-loooon. Celestialllll...this is no place for you, guardian of Wisdom. Leave here. This isn't your place. I rule these people. They're mine. Always mine." The purple monster managed to ooze out even more.
"Nope! No one owns anything, silly goose! This land, it belongs to us all! Pandaren, Mantid, Hozen, Jinyu, the...the newer races, and even...even Celestials. See, the Emperor understood! That's why he was the greatest pandaren in our history! To save his own race, he had to save his enemies, the Mantid!"
The little panda girl's voice was changing, turning into an echoing, deeper, more feminine voice as her body increased in size. A lot.
Soon, a massive cloud serpent sparkled where the tiny pandaren had been. Shay's mouth had dropped open. Her mandibles stopped moving, which was shocking in itself. That almost never happened. She'd never thought to see a Celestial in real life. She'd thought they were myths told by the Klaxxi'va to scare young mantid.
"There is wisdom in fear. Just as there is fear in wisdom. It is always wise to be afraid when there is a fight you surely cannot win or the loss of a relative you cannot control. But there is also wisdom in knowing that when you fight, you fight to protect something, even if it is a lost cause. And that your relative, that you've so long feared losing, is going to a better place."
Yu'lon smiled and dipped her head. She held out a large paw. An extremely tiny stone sparkled within.
"This is for you, Fear. The Wisdom of Yu-lon. The gift of the Celestial of Wisdom. Take it, and learn. Learn how Fear can be good, even when it is bad, just like pride, just like despair."
The massive violet creature reached out a twisted claw and took the stone from Yu-lon's great claws and crushed it with a simple finger snap. Yu-lon smiled as brilliant jade light engulfed the room.
"Do not fear, Fear. Feel what you truly should. Wisdom. The wisdom of when it is right to fear, and the wisdom of when it is wrong to fear." The great serpent bowed her head. She had meant Fear to crush the stone and release the feelings within.
She'd taken the stone from the Pools of Power in the Vale of Eternal Hope. She'd wanted to give Fear hope. Hope as Chi-Ji had given Despair hope. Instead, she gave what she was. She gave her essence. She gave Wisdom.
There were many times when fear was wise. There were also many times when fear was not wise. Hopefully, Fear would see that, as well as Shay'zeera, and together they would forge a long, deep friendship and neither would ever be alone again.
Fear looked at Yu-lon in wonder and astonishment, as if he were seeing her for the first time. "I'm not afraid anymore. I don't want to make others afraid anymore either. I...but...I understand fear. Why it is necessary, but I don't...What...what was this?" He held out the glittering stone shards.
"Wisdom. A piece of my essence. For the first time in ten thousand years, you will know when it is right to fear, and when it is wrong to fear. The same with spreading fear, using it. Sometimes, people must feel fear for their own safety. Other times, they must be brave and step up to save their people, even if they are afraid. They must push it aside, for the sake of saving others."
Yu-lon smiled and the brilliant jade glow increased, or seemed to.
The violet glow in the room had seemingly been reduced to near-nothingness compared to the brilliant jade light engulfing the room.
The violet blob of claws, faces, and monstrous features that was Fear slowly faded, pulling the purple from the walls, the bedchamber once again bathed in amber. Shay held back a gasp.
She'd honestly never seen the Empress's room without Fear's influence. It was lovely. Amber. The blood of life, made up her room, coated the walls, the floors, glowed like a golden wash of sunlight.
The Sha of Fear sighed, held out a fading claw to Yu-lon, who took it with her own, glowing jade claw, and Fear vanished, fading into the floor, the walls, everything. Shay looked at Yu-lon in confusion and, if she were honest, a little bit of fear.
"Where...where did he go? What did you do to him, Celestial? My teachers always taught me that the Celestials were bad. Did you destroy the last vestige of our god?" Her voice trembled, even as she fought to control it.
"Fear went where he was supposed to. Everywhere and no where. Fear is bad, until it becomes good. Fear is what makes us run when we know we have no chance. Fear is why we're alive today, all of us. If it weren't for fear and being afraid, no one would know when to stop. When it was okay to stop. When fighting was enough."
Yu-lon smiled at Shay.
"Fear isn't gone. As he always says, Fear always comes back. And so he will. Just not to scare you, unless you need to be scared for your own safety. Fear lives on, in the hearts of us all, even the brave can feel fear."
Yu-lon's body twisted and she was once again a pandaren child. She hugged Shay and kissed her hard, shiny insect-like cheek.
"You are not alone, Shay. Even if you do hate us. The Celestials. We are always here. We will always help." She smiled suddenly. "Help will always be given to those in Pandaria to those who ask for it and believe in it."
The little girl bowed before Shay and vanished.
R/R. Fear's story. Maybe not what some people hoped, but I wanted to write about the Mantid too.