I remember it like it was yesterday. The day I was doomed, the day I was tricked. I remember the smell of freshly bloomed wildflower, of fresh dew beading and nourishing my saplings. I remember the sounds of the waters of the Well, calm and beautiful, gently humming with energy that allowed us all to flourish. I remember the colors of the palace, of gold and marble juxtaposed by the purples and browns of the trees that held it together. I remember the beautiful women who would visit my gardens, either to pick my fruit or to simply speak while surrounded by the beauty I provided. I remember my queen, more beautiful than any other, more precious and pure than anything my powers could create. I remember when I became a satyr.
What I cannot remember is my name, or what I used to look like. I was lowborn, I know that. A druid of unsubstantial skill or birth. The Great Cenarius was far too busy teaching and guiding the lowborne with true potential, so in a way, one could say that I was lower than even the lowborne, hardly worth anyone's time and energy. While others were tending to the groves, dancing with dryads, or protecting the forests, I was but a humble gardener. Perhaps it was to taunt and humiliate my masters, but I was still honored when the highborne recruited me to tend to the flowers surrounding the Well of Eternity. The handmaidens tended to the queen's personal garden and the gardens along the palace pathways. My charge was specifically the area around the Well. While they feasted and indulged themselves all around me, I worked tirelessly to see that the view was spectacular. Of course, this displeased my masters, and my lessons in becoming a better druid all but halted. I didn't care. For a few short months, my life was paradise. I couldn't speak to the highborne around me, nor could I avail myself of their pleasantries, but I needed none of it. The beauty all around me was what sustained me, and I was all to happy to continue that way forever.
I was ignored by the highborne for the first full season of my employ. I still remember the shock as all eyes fell upon me that fateful day. Like a deer catching a predator in the act of hunting it, I was frozen with fear. Queen Azshara called me by name. How I wish I could remember it, to allow that silken voice to say my name in my mind's eye again. Alas, it is lost to me, but I know that she did just that for I recall being incredibly flustered, wondering how she even knew of me when to my knowledge she hadn't even allowed her eyes to settle on me even for a moment all of the time I had been there. I slowly shuffled my way to her, suddenly aware of my every movement being watched and judged by what could have been ten or a hundred eyes. So blind was I to anything but her that I knew only that I was being evaluated by a number of the highest of the highborne. She spoke sweetly to me, complimented me on my garden, my pride and joy. She told me that the fruit picked from the nearby trees were better than anything her handmaidens have been able to produce within her personal garden. She offered me her own glass of mixed juices, prepared specifically for her from my produce. So nervous was I that my hand slipped, and it spilled into my beard. What...color was my beard? Did the juice stain it? I remember only that she giggled at my expense, and used her own cloth to dab at it. Her handmaidens didn't laugh...they only stared at me. I could see that they were as confused as I why the queen was treating me so, and they were much less happy about it than I. She sent me away then, promising me that next time the juice would make it into my mouth one way or another. She held my shaking hand when she said it...our eyes locked. To this day, I wonder what it would have tasted like.
Every day for the next week, the queen would make a point of greeting me as she passed by. She never stayed to speak, and by the time I had answered her, her gaze would be averted elsewhere. I suspect some saw it as some sort of personal insult, because my gardens were soon empty when she was not visiting it. It was not unlike the setting of a feast. Several minutes before she passed through, the area quickly filled with highborne, picking my fruit, gazing at my flowers, eating and drinking before the Well. She would pass through with whomever she happened to be speaking to at the time, pause to greet me, and shortly after she left, so did everyone else until there was only me. This was why I was so shocked when she came to see me for the last time, for none of this occurred. I was tending to a small cluster of white flowers when she suddenly spoke behind me. So surprised was I that I nearly fell onto them. I quickly rose and turned to her, bowing as I greeted her. She giggled...such sweet music, and introduced me to the one she was with. "I would like you to meet my High Councilor, Xavius." He was a strange looking one, to be sure. The first thing I noticed was that he had no eyes. Instead, he had red gems in his sockets, that seemed to glimmer as if he could actually see with them. He gave a slight bow, which was more than I expected considering our stations. He spoke with a smooth but muted voice that seemed to be comforting, but his words shook me. I was to no longer tend to my gardens. He told me that though I was a lowborne, I could be of assistance in other ways. The queen put a hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. I was immediately drowned in their beauty as she requested that I help Xavius with his experiments. How could I refuse?
The next thing that I knew, I was in chains. Lord Xavius and his apprentices and associates began using magic on me. The pain I felt every time was like a heated blade slicing deep, yet no blood was ever spilled. Over and over each of them would speak and prod at me with dark power. Every night they would hang their heads and claim that they were getting closer, but they weren't there yet. When I closed my eyes, I could swear that I heard the queen giving me words of encouragement and praise. I would feel her gentle touch on my body. I was chained aloft, her plaything. The place I was kept was always dark. When Xavius and the others were there, their rituals and spells lit the dark space in red, green, and blue hues. I do not know if the queen was ever there in truth...I suspect it was just dreams to hold my sanity in check. For all I know, the dark pleasures she shared with me in the darkness could have just been more of their experiments.
Time became a blur after that, much as it has become now. Xavius stopped coming to torture me, but every now and then his students and associates would come by and send new pains through my withered body for their amusement. This became my life until one morning, the maiden who would feed me putrid mush and bathe my broken body awakened me with a scream. One of the associates went to her, told her that I had been chosen, like the High Councilor. He went to me and grabbed me by my beard. I felt something pull on the top of my head and there was scraping above me. He asked me who my master was, but all I could think of was the pain he was going to bring upon me. I wished for escape, to be back in my beautiful garden. Then, something happened. Something within me snapped and suddenly I was aware that I was no longer in my prison. The Emerald Dream surrounded me. The vegetation was wild, a forest like nothing I had ever seen before with my waking eyes. I had only witnessed the Dream in brief glimpses before my training was put to an end, so the fact that I was there was surprising, but also filled me with relief. I thought that I was free. I was mistaken.
When I returned from the dream, I was no longer anywhere near the palace. The trees were ruined, the ground hard and barren. A battle raged nearby between lowbornes like myself and strange monsters. Some were gigantic and fearful, while others were only slightly larger than myself. A grove keeper, one of the progeny of Cenarius charged in my direction, and I instantly knew that he meant to kill me. I knew that I could not defend myself against him, and so I fell to my knees and shouted a surrender. He listened, but several dryads suddenly surrounded me and I was once again restrained. I was brought before the brothers, Malfurion and Illidan. As Malfurion interrogated me, Illidan would cut me. His blades burned against my flesh in a way that almost made the dark powers Xavius tortured me with seem tame. They asked me what my plan was, who I served. When I told them that my only plan was to escape and that I no longer served the queen, they asked me how I escaped the palace. I had no idea that a barrier had been put up around the palace, nor that a war had broken out at all. I told them that I used the Emerald Dream to escape. With that, Malfurion and Illidan left, and two warrior women came in, garbed in heavy cloaks. They stood guard as I remained restrained. I asked them many things, and they replied in short, cold sentences. It was then that I learned what I had become. Apparently, Xavius had been killed some time ago, and his dark god, Sargeras revived him as a twisted creature. He had been recruiting other lowborne like me, changing others into monsters. It was strange, I had been locked away in darkness for so long that I hadn't even thought to look at myself. It was true, I was no longer a lowborne...no longer even a night elf. I was something else...something defiled.
Some time later, they put something around my eyes and led me away. A deep female voice asked me if I wanted to die and be sent back to my masters. I pleaded for an alternative. I would rather return to the darkness where I didn't have to look at myself, safe from the ones who betrayed me. She told me that she would do just that. I was led underground, into the Vault of the Wardens, and imprisoned. Strangely, a short time later, Illidan was also imprisoned further in. The wardens wouldn't tell me why, but the fact that they refused to use his name and instead called him The Betrayer told me enough.
I don't know how long it's been since then. The darkness whispers to me sometimes, consoling me using the voice of my queen. Most of the time, however, I have only the sound of wardens walking by my cell, the echoes of their footsteps to listen to. So I sit in my cell, reliving my last months of freedom, the good and the bad. I have forgotten many things, my name, what I looked like, my life before I was recruited. I no longer remember the names of my teachers, if I loved anyone before the queen stole my heart. The whispers tell me that they weren't important anyway. I don't know where they come from if I am honest, nor why they comfort me even though they sound like my insane, backstabbing queen. I've tried asking the whispers, but they tell me that the answers aren't important.
I thought about asking the voices why it isn't important that I know these things, but suddenly something feels very wrong. What is it? I clack my twisted antlers against the stone of my cell. Is it a sound? Yes...I heard something just now. There are voices speaking down the hall. I hear the clamber of metal. Did someone escape? Surely the wardens will deal with it. I tell the voices not to worry, that soon the sound of footsteps will resume. The whispers tell me that I am mistaken, that several footsteps have already resumed, coming in this direction. I open my eyes for what feels like the very first time. There's a soft light outside my cell. Was that always there?
"Out of my way, wardens. I will release Illidan." "No, priestess. The Betrayer must not be allowed to leave. We will stop you."
I recognize one of those voices...the deep feminine one. Was she the one who sentenced me? I see a woman in a beautiful battle dress riding a white saber come to a stop near my cell. There are archers, and sentinels with her. I see...she is a sentinel. The whispers correct me, she is a priestess. I open my mouth and my own voice is alien to me. "Hail, Priestess. What brings you here?" Suddenly I feel very thirsty, and my heart is pounding. Why am I becoming so excited? The priestess looks to me. "Silence, demon. We seek to free Illidan, not to listen to a trickster." Free Illidan? The Betrayer?
"I meant no offense. Why is the Betrayer to be freed?" An archer raises an arrow mere inches from my face, but surprisingly, I do not flinch. Even more surprising, the priestess holds a hand up to stop her. "The demons have returned, more powerful than ever. We seek to free him so that the demon hunter may aid us once again." Returned? So they were driven away then? How long was I down here? The whispers tell me that isn't the correct thing to ask. They tell me to ask for my freedom. I don't know why I would want to leave, but the voices insist.
"I know where his prison lies, but what will I get in return?" I am told that I will be allowed to live. Personally that sounds agreeable, but the voices tell me to ask for more They give me the words to say. "Please, Priestess. I was not loyal to the demons last time they attacked. I am still loyal to Cenarius, despite my appearance. Take me with you...or at least unlock my cell so that I may leave after you have gone." The archer advises the priestess not to listen. Insolent wench! Wait...why am I angry? I would think the same if a creature like me asked such a thing. The priestess tells me that if what I say is true, she will consider it. I tell the whispers that we shouldn't push our luck. I think the archer heard me because she's looking at me strangely. "Turn down the next hallway and continue until you find three grove wardens. They each hold a piece of the key that goes to Illidan's cell. You'll have to get it from them somehow." I wonder how I know that, the whispers tell me to pay more attention. The priestess nods and leads her retinue away. I fall back into my cell and await their return.
I close my eyes, but more time must have passed than I thought. When I opened them, the door to my cell was wide open. She must have passed by already. I get up and look around the hallway outside. "So many corpses...did the priestess do that?" I stand up straight and wobble a bit. I am not used to having hooves. "My lady...how do I get out of here?" I am chided once again for not paying attention and am told that I will have to find my own way out. The ground trembles and a second voice thunders through my mind. It is not at all pleasant. I haven't got a clue what he said, the language is foreign to me. Something tells me that I need to leave, and quickly. The entire vault is falling apart.