The ruins of the once great city of Dalaran lay smouldering away under the night sky, now littered with thousands upon thousands of stars and blanketed by a thin veil of cloud. It would have been a beautiful night had it not been for the tragedy that had struck this land merely a day before. Dalaran, once it was full of hope and happyness, great magical concepts and structures. A city packed with aspiring young mages and apprentices just waiting for their first taste of combat to really give them some proper experience and of course the battle weary archmages, who taught those weaker than themselves. Now the bodies of these young hopefuls and aged wizards lay on and underneath the rubble of the mighty arcane towers that once stood tall and proud. There was no discrimination between age, gender or race. All were slaughtered mercilessly at the hand of the demons. Most of these bodies reduced to nothing more than ash after being consumed by demonic flames however some remained more or less in one piece. It was from these such corpses that the smell of decay met the nostrils of a young Elven teenager, barely alive and unable to move, trapped underneath a large chunk of white marble that used to be part of his dwelling.
He awoke abruptly and immediately gave a yelp of agony as he felt a sharp pain running all the way down his right leg. What in Elune's name had happened to him to cause such pain. It was only after he had looked around, through blurred vision, that the memories came flooding back and he realized exactly what had happened. The entire city was destroyed. The demons had left absolutely nothing unharmed. Then, as he looked around further, he saw the limp body of his sister and his mother, or to put it more accurately, what was left of his mother. Her body had been charred beyond recognition in the fires that had once overwhelmed the city, her once beautiful looks now tarnished. It was quite miraculous that even Ivash Moonstar, her son, managed to recognise her. Ivash tried with every ounce of strength left in him to move the debris on top of him so he could reach his family, but it was a futile attempt. He eventually had to resign himself to the fact he was not going to be moving any time soon. He lay awake for hours, not able to sleep for the fear of the demons returning to finish off any survivors and for the sound of screams and cries for help, but there was nothing he could do for them. The young High Elf wished with all his heart that he could help them, to at least prevent them having the same fate as his own family. His family. Dead. He would never see them alive again. Never laugh when his sister poured some of Pandaria's finest ale into the nearby archmage's drinking water causing him to polymorph himself. Never be taught to use magic like his father said he would one day. He asked himself, would have been any different had he been able to use magic? No it wouldn't have been. After all what could he do against such malevolent evil. His father had no doubt died defending this city and now it was nothing but ruins. Ivash just couldn't stop wondering if he could have helped his father or not. A solitary tear slid slowly down his cheek, glittering in the moonlight. He wiped it away on the fabric of his torn clothes and snuffled his nose. And with this, he let his head fall back onto the soft, damp earth and began to drift into a deep sleep. One he was almost certain he would not wake from.
With a thunderous crash, one of the great arcane towers fell to the ground, covering the nearby area entirely in rubble and debris. Hundreds of Elves and Humans were crushed instantly under it, after just a single tower. Panic followed as more and more buildings began to crumble to the ground, destroying anything nearby. The thing that confused people most was that there was no apparent cause of what was happening. Nothing had harmed the towers, nothing that would be considered a threat was even in the city. It was only as the last arcane tower fell that all hell broke loose in the city. Literally. Scores of demons poured through the now broken gates and into the city, killing anyone who stood in their path. The army of casters that greeted them was no match at all and was slaughtered mercilessly in under a minute. The demons continued their attack, ruining the lives of countless people by raining fire upon any crowds, ripping the civilians apart with claws and cleaving their mighty swords through their flesh. As a doom guard began its approach towards Ivash, he backed away tripping over many chunks of debris behind him, until he finally found himself trapped in a corner. The doom guard glared straight at him with cold, hollow eyes. Like the dark abyss, ready to swallow Ivash up, never to return. The eyes of a killer. Ivash whimpered as the doom guard brought it's sword back, ready to strike at the young Elf. However, here is where Ivash has a dramatic change of luck. It turned out a fellow doom guard had been calling hellfire on top of the very house Ivash was about to be brutally murdered in. The result was that the roof completely caved in, burying the other doom guard in four tonnes of Elven construct. The small adolescant only had a relatively small boulder fall on top of him, allowing him to survive for right now. Outside, the demons continued destroying all trace of life in the city. The scene kept repeating itself over and over in Ivash's mind. He kept seeing his father fall to the ground as a fell hound ripped through his chest, blood blossoming from his chest, and he saw himself hiding in the corner...through the eyes of the doom guard.
"AAAGH!" screamed Ivash as he awoke from the terrible nightmare he had been experiencing. "Just a dream. Calm down it was just a dream."
And then, once again, he came to terms with how very real his nightmare had been.
After an incredibly disturbed night's sleep, Ivash awoke only to find the rock he had been trapped under lifted and placed to one side, leaving him free to move at last. No longer did he fear a demon was going to find him laying there helpless. His legs, however, were a mess. He hadnt realized last night, but they were crumpled, the bones had been crushed, and the flesh and skin was ripped apart. At his feet sat a pool of blood, crimson red. Ivash was so lucky to be alive yet he didn't know it. The adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins was no longer there. He could feel the agonising pain in his entire body without the adrenaline there to help. He let out a scream of pain as Ivash attempted to sit up, but found the stabbing pain in his chest too much to bear.
"Ahh, in a bit of pain are you. Well, I'll soon sort that out for you." said a strange, deep and unfamiliar voice.
Ivash was incredibly startled by the stranger. At first thinking he was a demon who was actually intelligent enough to learn the common language that just about every other race in the world knew. However he soon realized that it couldn't be a demon. If it were, then Ivash would not have survived long enough to even contemplate that thought. He soon came to his senses and looked around to find an aged man of around fifty looking at him.
"Eh? Where did you come from?" asked Ivash in a rather disrespectful tone.
"Why, i am the one who saved you from certain death." replied the man.
"But...i thought everybody was dead. Killed by the demons."
"Yes most of them were." the man said sadly. "Some of us, however, have managed to survive by taking shelter in the underground section of the city."
"Wow...i dont suppose...i mean is there any chance my father is there?"
"I dont know. You'll need to come along with me and look for yourself." replied the man.
"I guess I'll have to." but Ivash was frightened of seeing the corpse of his father, yes he was almost certain it would be a corpse.
"Can i just ask, what's your name anyway?" Ivash asked.
"My name is Keln Lightbearer. I'm a paladin.
"Well Keln, I am Ivash Moonstar." responded Ivash.
"Quite a name. I presume you are one of the High Born."
"Yes...I am. Or rather, was. Now I have nothing left at all."
"Oh but you don't know that." said Keln.
"Hmm...maybe." but Ivash knew full well that he would never see his father again. No matter how much he searched.
And with that, Keln began to patch up Ivash, curing the critical wounds Ivash had recieved. There was only so much Keln's holy light could fix, however, so Ivash had to make do with the slow method for mending bones. The holy light did help the bones mend some, but it was several hours before they were ok to walk on again. Oh the wonders of healing magic.