A/N: This is total "too-much-wow-playing", but I love mythology and lore and the world Blizz constructed is really fantastic stuff. This takes from the Sunwell Trilogy Manga. Those who have read will know where I'm going with this, but I hope you enjoy it anyhow. If you haven't, enjoy the surprise.
All characters belong to their respective gamers. Those in this chapter, including Hanannoaurora (Me) are all from the Gorgannash Team Venture (Anso, Similara, Czami, Alinaris and her pet Scythe.) Blizz ownes WoW, I just meddle in it
The Sunwell Revival
chapter 1: The Unwanted Discovery
Hana of Aurora gently pried the Felweed from the tree roots it had grown entangled in and dusted off her robes, stuffing the herb in her oversized herbalist's pouch. She blinked as the rays of the Nagrand, Outlands sunlight streamed into her vision through the tree leaves.
She was almost done for the trip. A small trek down to the Eastern Plaguelands for Plaguebloom on her home planet of Azeroth and she could be home free. As beautiful as the balmy, green lands west of Terrokar Forest were, she was ever a Stormwind girl at heart.
"Well Scythe, lets book it. Your Mistress will want to see you back safely!" She said, glancing over at the snoozing raptor; it was her Night Elf friend, Alinaris's. Ali, mother hen that she was, had ordered her faithful pet to follow Hana on her long herb gathering trip. The Scourge, the soulless minions of the Lich King, had been coming in increasing numbers into the Blood Elf and Draenei lands more often in the last months of the summer. Hana had not turned her down.
Yawning, Scythe rose on his haunches and meandered over to her, nuzzling her side. Laughing, Hana pulled out a piece of wolf meat she'd cooked earlier that morning and tossed it into Scythe's waiting mouth.
"I spoil you, that's the only reason you were so happy to come." She said.
Scythe snorted in response.
"Now where did I put that Rune of Portals? Aha!" She pulled out the rough rune stone and tossed it in the air before her. With a wave of her hand, it popped into a swirling portal. Scythe whimpered, and thus found himself shoved through the dimensional gateway down to Ironforge, city of the Dwarves. With a small giggle, she jumped as well.
Ironforge, city of metalworking and invention, home to both Dwarf and Gnome, was as loud and busy as ever when Hana felt her feet tough the stone worked tiles of the Mystic Quarter's main hall. She let the slight nausea portal travel pass through with her eyes closed before opening them and taking a full, deep breath.
Scythe was laying on the floor, looking as queasy as she felt. The young raptor looked up at her with reproach, mewling softly.
" I've ported you and Ali plenty of times, you can stop pretending like you didn't know how it feels." Hana said with a laugh.
"Good day Miss Hana." Greeted a gnome mage trainer as she passed.
"Hello. C'mon Scythe, one last trip." She bowed to the gnome before she exited into the cavernous mountain halls of the great Dwarvish city.
All Ironforge was, really, was large caverns cut into the cliffs separating the frozen mountains behind Searing Gorge from the Wetlands. It held endless little tunnels made by the inhabitants who preferred to live away from all the hustle and bustle inside the stone-finished main city and its multiple sectors, each for a different class and containing experts in all professions.
Hana's sector, the Mystic Quarter, housed a large water basin, where the Lunar New Year festival occurred, as well as enchanted clothing shops, an apothecary, and an ancient wand shop. It was covered in silky blue tapestries that were reflected off the water and onto the stone dwellings in a blue, ethereal light. Regardless, it was still a cavern, no matter how pretty it seemed. Hana shivered a bit and swallowed; she hated being underground, it always left her feeling chilled and not a little bit claustrophobic.
She walked left around the basin and followed the gap in the shops, from where a series of loud hissing noises and steam poured into the ward. As she and Scythe approached, an orange glow was cast over their bodies by the large melting pot of boiling adamantium. In the center of the fiery moat, a courtyard and a large forge were the only decorations, where dozens of beings ran around, smelting their precious ores and showing off new pieces of armor to amazed onlookers. Ignoring them, Hana walked around the perimeter until she stood face to back with a surly ginger-haired Dwarf. Scythe let out a roar and he jumped around to face her.
"Eh, lass! I though ye were Alinaris for a moment there!" He said nervously. Hana smirked.
"No, just borrowing some help. You know there's been a lot of Scourge rogues running about up in Outlands, Ivan." She paused, " why would Ali make you ner—oh right. That card game a few weeks ago. You owe her, don't you?"
Ivan had the grace to look down. "Well, er..y'see lass."
"She'll be at my house for a few weeks, drop by or mail what you owe. Or do I have to complain to Anso again? Or how'bout my cousin?" Ivan paled.
Anso, Hana's guild leader, was the most no-nonsense man Hana knew. Anything owed to a guildie was equal to something owed to the guild. And Hana's cousin Czami was…well not exactly ladylike when affronted. Hana wondered which Ivan was more terrified of. She assumed it was Czami.
"Aye, aye. I will. Now, " He said quickly, blushing under his beard, " I bet you'll be wanting a flight home eh?"
"No, I need to be at the Chapel of Light in Eastern Plaguelands. The guild is low on Plaguebloom and Dreaming Glory."
"If ya insist, M'dear. But watch it! Been hearin' about them Blood Elves a'wanderin out of the partition in Ghostlands." Hana nodded.
"Capture by Blood Elves isn't as bad as turning Scourge." She said, as Ivan unlaced the ties to a Gryphon. He handed her the reigns and she paid her leaving fee. Laying a hand on Scythe's head, she muttered a soft incantation that shrunk the beast to pocket size.
Placing him in her cloak's hood, where he quickly snuggled into her red hair for warmth, Hana jumped into the saddle and waved her goodbye. Then she set her eyes to the ledge up high and loosened the reigns. In moments, she was in flight, directly into the heart of the unexpected.
They landed within an hour and a half in the once-prosperous, where now only the sickly beasts, tortured spirits, and occasional Scourge roamed a red, barren land.
Beyond hope, the land still flowered with precious herbs and pockets of mines revealed after the intense fighting that had occurred once Lordaron fell to the Lich King Arthas. And that was what Hana set out from the last bastion of the True Scarlet Crusade for, a re-grown Scythe at her heels; the Plaguebloom that grew on the darkness, and the Dreaming Glory that defied its environment.
She stopped with a whoop of triumph as she felt the energies of a Dreaming Glory plant near the Northern border to Ghostlands. Tentatively, she reached out to grasp the base of the plant when she heard a shriek from the devastated region.
"C'mon Scythe! That definitely sounded human!" Abandoning her plant and removing her wand from her belt, Hana tore off into the pass as once again a woman's scream filled the air.
She had just rounded the tip of a bend in the road when the woman ran smack dab into her, knocking both of them to the ground.
"Whoa!" Hana yelled, holding the woman's wrists in case she though Hana was a pursuer.," Don't yell! I'm human!" The woman stilled.
"Oh…oh good." she said softly. Gently, Hana let go of her wrists and took a step back to get a good look at her.
She was, in a word, stunning. Long blonde hair flowed down her back, framing a rounded face and large blue eyes. She was also obviously human, but something sparked in Hana. Something was different about her.
"Who is chasing you?" Hana asked, as Scythe peered aggressively behind their new companion. He barred his teeth and growled at attackers unseen.
"Scourge soldiers. They…I think I lost them. I'm Anveena, by the way."
"Hana."
"Thank you, Hana." Said Anveena with a small smile. It quickly faded and she looked around, as if missing someone.
"You haven't happened to of seen a strong young man with shoulder length blue hair, have you? His name is Kalec, my husband."
"No need, Anveena. I'm here." Said a odd voice from the woods. A young man fitting Anveena's description came into view, and Hana felt a strange spark tingle it's way up her spin, just as it had with Anveena. How did he get blue hair?
"Hana came to help." Anveena said. Rather than look relieved, Kalec's brown furrowed and he fixed Hana with a glance that made something turn cold inside her.
"No one can know we're on the run again, Anveena. No one." Hana raised the hand holding her wand at Kalec, suddenly fearful. Beside her, Scythe held his mouth open, revealing all of his teeth as he hissed a warning.
"If I go missing, my sister and cousins will come looking." She said darkly, voice shaking ever so slightly.
"Kalec! Stop that! We'll have to trust her." Kalec deflated a bit, now looking scared for his wife. He looked back up at Hana, raising his hands in peaceful surrender before speaking again.
"My apologies, Miss Hana. I'm afraid I'm going to tell you something that you must never reveal to anyone, even under torture." Hana lowered her wand and nodded.
" G-go on…"
Kalec sighed.
"It started when the Sunwell blew up…"
