Disclaimer - I don't own Warcraft. Blizzard has that honour
Hope. The fires that ignite souls and rally people to action. a force of nature that allows the truly impossible to happen. Yet, as Anduin Wrynn had recently discovered also a very fickle and easily crushed thing.
No, perhaps it wasn't that it was easy but the experience of those who had done it that made it look easy. Whatever the case the Prince. No. King of Stormwind would be hard pressed to deny his emotional unease given the current situation.
The world was coming apart at the seams. The Alliance and the Horde were divided as ever after the failure of that was the Siege of the Broken Shore.
The Broken Shore. Thinking about that campaign brought fresh shivers through the young King's spine. His father Varian Wrynn had been leading that assault alongside Sylvanas Windrunner. A force unlike any other amassed in Azeroth's history was assembled, the Horde and the Alliance and a dozen other factions had sent their best but it wasn't enough! Even with master strategists like his father and the Banshee Queen leading the charge supported by the heroes who've saved Azeroth countless times backing them. Still, it wasn't enough.
Such a force was defeated almost easily without so much as a dent in the Legions forces left. If this mighty force was swept aside what hope did Anduin have of leading a divided Alliance, many of whom were determined to fight the Horde at the same time to victory?
This turmoil was the reason of Anduin's current position. His guard had objected at first but so few remembered Anduin possessed the ability to temporarily control minds. Catching his bodyguards off guard had allowed him this moment of freedom. The blonde priest had taken this time to walk out into Elwyn Forest and clear his mind.
The forest that surrounded Stormwind City was a peaceful place. The moonlight shone down creating a twilight effect through the tree tops. The trees themselves were all healthy and strong and surrounded by grass tall enough to reach past Anduin's ankles.
Though owls watched the young king from the tree branches he himself wasn't deterred as he made his way through the forest and listened to the peaceful sounds. The hooting owls, the light breeze in his ears and the crunch of small twigs beneath his feet. It was a peaceful moment until a loud and angry hissing sound invaded the man's ears.
He ripped around to see to his horror a brown Forest Spider coming towards him. The human-sized spider was scurrying towards him on its 8 legs its pincers clicked together making it abundantly clear the creatures intention. Anduin was about to raise his hand to defend himself but before he could make a move a pained hiss was heard from the beast as a green oddly curved blade landed in its head.
The creature, who's blood was now coming out of the wound slumped downwards it's legs giving out under its weight and spreading outwards as it's breath ceased.
Anduin blinked once trying to figure out what had happened and while he attempted to get his composure back the person who had saved him stepped out of the shadows of a tree behind him. The woman who wore red and yellow attire featuring knee-high heeled boots and a leotard, as well as a hood and bandanna leaving only her glowing green eyes and long pointy elf ears to be revealed.
Once this woman pulled her dagger from the beasts head it finally clicked who this was, and though most of his guards would have attacked this woman on sight he knew better, She may be a Blood Elf but her affiliations were far from the Horde.
"Is getting into trouble with predators a Wrynn thing?" The woman asked smiling pulling her hood and bandanna down to reveal a head of platinum blonde hair an amused smile on her face. , "First Croc-Bait now Spider Bait."
A chuckle escaped Anduin's mouth, a chuckle that came from a smiling face but eyes filled with sorrow at hearing his father's old nickname. "Hello, Valeera." He said blinking the tears out of his eyes.
The tears didn't go unnoticed by the keen eye of the rogue and once they were noticed the smile was replaced with a sympathetic frown. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Anduin replied looking into the glowing eyes of his friend and despite their magical glow sympathy and a certain level of hurt was distinctly present, admittedly with a superior disguise of calm than the Kings.
It was at this moment that Anduin realized he wasn't about to be left alone anymore, his guards with their nonexistant knowledge of magic were one thing but Valeera Sanguinar, strong mind and natural affinity to magic was a far more difficult target for mind control. The King wouldn't deny this angered him slightly but at the same time, there were far worse people to be stuck with in this moment of grieving.
"Why weren't you at the funeral?" Anduin blurted out confused as he realized that Varian's other companion Broll Bearmantle had been there, he would have thought with one of their members passing the champions of Dire Maul would come together to mourn their fallen comrade.
"My presence would have served no other purpose than to fuel animosity. From what Broll tells me Proudmoore and Greymane are on the war path," Valeera said calmly. Though this was only a half truth, It was true she had wanted to avoid confrontation with the leaders of the Alliance so divided but there was also Valeera's own distaste for the emotional setting.
The Varian Wrynn she knew would have scoffed if not outright laugh at the concept of a funeral held for him under any circumstances, he was first and foremost a man of action and not one to dwell on the past. In a way, she was honouring his memory by not honouring him.
"Right," Anduin said pursing his lips and a note of anger in his usually bright and hopeful blue eyes. That anger in the next moment turned to sorrow as tears began to well up in his eyes.
Before the tears had actually fallen Anduin felt something on his shoulder, Valeera had put a hand on his shoulder and once he looked up he saw her green eyes filled with the determined glare that only a being whose been through the fires of conflict could muster. It was a strange mix of anger and sympathy and it broke past Anduin's defences with one stare.
"Your father was first and foremost a fighter Anduin," Valeera said, "He didn't need the Light to believe in hope, it was just the willpower of himself and the people beside him." Her words cut into Anduin like the bladed end of an Arcanite Reaper. "Now I don't know about you but I don't think that man's death should be in vain, and the only way that's not happening is if we continue the fight!"
The words were as sharp as they were true and despite the fear still plaguing Anduin's heart he couldn't help but give a weak smile as he wrapped his arms around Valeeras upper torso and embraced her in a hug.
"Thank you Valeera," He said softly with his head resting on her shoulder. Valeera likewise embraced the young king. It was as if the world's problems were slowly slipping away, into the embrace and Anduin had to wonder in the back of his mind if this is what a mother's embrace was supposed to feel like.
Valeera meanwhile opened her eyes and saw something behind the son of her closest friend, a translucent wolf, pure white fur with several scars along its head all adorned by a set of very familiar sapphire eyes.
Emerald met Sapphire for a moment before a small light appeared to travel through the ghostly wolf making it slowly disappear. As it vanished it lifted it's head back and let out a loud howl. The Howl was long and drawn out with a low pitch. Yet despite the nature of a wolf in the forest somehow this howl did nothing but make Valeera smile and hold Anduin all the tighter.
The Ghost Wolf is still with us.