Note: Just a little oneshot 'musing' story on my BE rogue Taleron's outlook on Hellfire Peninsula.
In all the time I can recall, there's always been some pretty awkward moments between me and lots of other folks..I think the only person to ever really take any of them in stride was Aeraelyn. But guess it helps that she knows pretty well everything there is to know about me, eh? I have to say- sometimes I think I'm the one coming out on top in any of those moments...and not because it keeps people guessing.
If anything, it just makes them think I'm an idiot but hey.
No, what I like about those is how easy it becomes to see the things everyone else is missing. Like Hellfire Peninsula, for instance. I won't deny its a pretty nasty place; but unlike damned near everyone else I've seen coming through the Dark Portal- the first thing I noticed wasn't the barren ground, the endless attacks on the gate or the grim faced soldiers holding them back.
The first thing I noticed was the sky. Jugo, well..I guess he knew what to expect. He's a bright sort, knows way too much for anyone's good I'd say. Definitely more than what's good for him...he looked dead ahead and saw the fighting, I bet. I know everyone else who was also standing there when one of those attacks began sure was. I was too busy looking up to see it.
Three moons, hanging close in the sky and a band of gold slithering through it...stars everywhere as far as the eye could see. It kept me rooted to the spot even while everyone else was scrambling this way and that, yelling about attacking infernals and pit lords...and it stays the thing I remember most about that place. Not the fel orcs, not the fel reavers- just that starry sky with its gold ribbon and heavy moons....
I admire it every chance I get; like now as the trained wyvern carries me over the place. I never look down; once you've seen one blasted landscape you've seen 'em all, eh? But it's all anyone talks about when they mention Hellfire; no one says a thing about the sky.
Maybe it's because I am an idiot, like some folks- Jugo sometimes among them- say I am. Sure, I didn't know Outland wasn't part of Azeroth. Give a guy who's not much for gossip some credit- it just never came up in conversation! At least I figured it out after seeing that sky and doing a moon-count. ..Once I knew I really was seeing three moons and hadn't just had a little too much ale before heading out for the Blasted Lands, anyway.
For a guy who came into it completely blind, I don't think I did half bad...if nothing else, always looking up meant those giant reavers had a real hard time catching you off guard. Still, I think I might be a bit better off for it...everyone else I've talked to since came here knowing what to expect. Demons, fel orcs, a dead landscape....a whole world laid to waste, pretty much.
No one ever talks about the sky. If they want to talk about a part of Outland that they noticed; it's Terrokar, Shattrath, Zangarmarsh or Nagrande. All the forest or plain like places that sort of look like Azeroth gone weird. Don't get me wrong- I like mushrooms as much as the next guy, and grass and trees are pretty nice too. But as the haze of a blue mist slowly wipes the moons and stars away, making way for Terrokar and in the distance Shattrath as my trained wyvern gets ready to land at last...
I can't help but feel a little let down. Terrokar's certainly something to see with those glowing fruit trees or whatever they are...I suppose Shattrath is nice if you like ruined looking places run by weird windchime people.... But nothing quite matches up to Hellfire's sky.
Three moons and a band of gold: something beautiful where everything else there is ugly...and no one seems to care. I let the wyvern go off to its perch to make way for the next waiting to land; taking a moment to stare upward. No..it's not nearly so amazing a sight here.
Maybe one of these days I'll run into someone else who saw that instead of just a dead land. Then I'll have a little more hope for the people out here.