Chapter 1 - Prologue
Theramore. A subtle, purple gloom encases the destructed city and the small island. The few remaining stone walls, once covering the entire island, are the only visible structures left. Most of them are collapsed. Big stones now break the waves coming from the ocean. One can see a big hole where the bomb hit the ground. It was where the central tower of the city stood. Jaina's tower. A familiar place of diplomacy. Nothing is left.
Eternal calm surrounds the area. Only the wind is rustling in the trees. The bridge which connected Theramore isle with the surrounding marshes are destroyed. Beautiful cobblestones litter the water below. The sky is partly cloudy and the sun fights its way through white spots and stripes.
Go'el stops in front of the impassable bridge which once led to the northwestern entrance of the ruined city. He devoutly kneels on the stony ground and closes his eyes. His breathing gets deeper as he lets his thoughts flow in this moment of calmness. Should it really be this way? Only the birds in the nearby trees still feel home in this area. Someone comes closer from behind.
"You are not here for meditation this morning, are you?" a female voice asks.
It is Chromie. A bronze dragon, able to see the past and alternate timelines, in her small gnome form. The orc opens his eyes again and looks at her with a troubled smile.
"No. It is something important. A question I have had in mind for weeks now."
He stands up and makes some steps towards a nearby log. They both take a seat on its soft bark and face each other.
"Tell me," Chromie demands in a pleasant tone.
Go'el points at the ruins with his head.
"Look at this. I have never visited this place after its destruction… but now I understand."
The gnome lady remains calm but forces him to get to the point.
"That is not a question, Go'el."
He lays the back of his hands on the bark, indirectly asking her to take them and focuses her eyes. The orc needs a moment to gather himself.
"After all this time, I asked myself very often… What if? What if I intensified my friendship with Jaina. Would it all still happen if... If I chose Jaina as my life mate? Would it be better or would it be even worse?"
His voice gets stronger and demanding as despair erupts in his mind.
"Chromie, I want you to show me the timeline in which we are… together," he continues but then gets angry with himself for a moment. A forceful cry.
"Is there one?!"
The small timewalker is not surprised by this moment of rudeness. She looks down and pulls something out of her pocket. It is a big shard of glass. A blue shimmer on the edges makes it look magical. It is big enough to look through with both eyes. To make sure her companion understands, she puts it in the palm of his hands which still touch the bark.
"Do you remember the 'Hourglass of Time'? It helped us walking through time and space, during Garrosh's trial on Pandaria for instance. Now it is fractured. With this shard, we might still see pieces and parts of alternate timelines. Not everything, not all details, but parts of it."
"Is. There. One?" Go'el repeats in giving points to his words. Chromie now spots a concerned face and gives him a broad smile. She already expected this is today's subject.
"Yes, there is one."
"I do not want to change that timeline. Can we enter it without being noticed?"
The small lady looks confident and nods.
"We will see the timeline through this shard. It might be possible that I can project seminal and critical situations around us. So you feel like being there but they will not see us."
"That is good to know... What now?"
"Shall we begin?" Chromie asks and grabs his giant fingers.
They look down at the shard. After starring at it for a while, the world around them becomes blurry. Time and space bends. Colors and surfaces merge into one surrounding color gradient. A dizzy feeling encased Go'el's body for a moment. Only now he realizes that their journey through the alternate timeline has just begun.