AN: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING WORLD OF WARCRAFT! ANY REAL CHARACTERS OF THE GAME BELONG TO BLIZZARD! NO COPY RIGHT INTENDED! MY CHARACTERS BELONG TO ME! IT'S A GREAT GAME! :)
**Kalimdor: Mount Hyjal**
The moon rose high over the winding roads of Mount Hyjal, illuminating the burned out and ashen path that once held a vast of emerald colored forest and overgrowth. The dangerous roads through the Flamewake made the two lone travelers stiffen with caution.
The two travelers, large and peaceful looking Taurens, hurried along the path. The male of the two Taurens ran swiftly upon his hooves trying to keep close to his female counter part as she rode upon the large fawn colored Kodo. The polymorphed pale stag honed his hearing for any signs of danger and nodded to the worried female as she sighed in relief.
"Cairin, my love. I worry." The soft spoken voice of the large white Tauren made the white stag turn his head in her direction.
"I promise to protect you where danger lurks, my sweet Aellas." Cairin, the polymorphed aging Tauren gently nudged his snout into his wife's hand in a calm and comforting manner.
"We have but a few more miles ahead till we reach Nordrassil." Aellas's large grey eyes looked at her Druid husband in anxiousness and nodded.
Though they began reaching into the thickening forest of Mount Hyjal, Cairin and Aellas felt like something was... off. It was silent.
Too silent.
Not a sound, rustle, or breath of life could be seen or heard as they continued up the entry way to the forest. A black billow of smoke lifted in the air beyond the thick trees.
Cairin narrowed his eyes.
"Something isn't right..." Cairin stated grimly as he lifted his great head up looking and trying to find a sense of life.
Cairin and Aellas trudged carefully on past the beauty of the ancient trees and were careful as they approached a section of the overgrowth coming into the Grove of Aessina.
They smelt it before they saw it.
The smell of death sliced its way through the air like a blade through flesh.
Aellas quickly lifted one of her large hands and put it over her snout at the horrendous smell. The smell of burning flesh and rot pierced her sinuses, making her stomach blanch and twist with nausea.
Both Taurens glanced at one another before moving ahead quickly on foot.
Aellas just about screamed in horror, only for Cairin to quickly morph back into his true form to hold his wife close to his chest trying to block off the carnage in front of them. Aellas buried her head into Cairin's chest.
"By the light..."
The smoke billowed off the burning remnants of a large ancient tree. The once beautiful amethyst colored bark blackened as the flames consumed it. Across the once green forest floors were dozens upon dozens of bloody, many broken and burned, decaying corpses.
The bodies ranged from fellow Orcs, Taurens, Trolls, to the Alliance's Humans, Gnomes, Dwafts, and more. Bodies of travelers, trained warriors and casters, and civilians alike were left dead on the grounds of the forest floor.
Cairin's light brown eyes hardened and darkened in fury and angst as he spotted his fellow Druids amongst the bloody graveyard.
"What happened here?" The question hung in the air. The only sound was the crackling of the burning dead and wood.
"My love, help me search for survivors." Aellas quickly nodded her head at Cairin as both Druid and Priest scavenged across the field for any breathing survivors.
Almost an hour of searching and not one soul was left to bare the gift of life. Aellas felt her soul wither at the decimation of so many. Cairin seemed to sense his mate's anguish and steered themselves towards Nordrassil.
"Not one was left alive..." Aellas's shoulders shook with sadness. Cairin could only do what he could as a husband and Druid to calm his distressed wife.
As the two quickly approached the large and towering great tree of Nordrassil, more and more somber Druids came into focus.
"My brother, what has happened at the Grove?" Cairin asked in Common to the large and injured Night Elf Druid. Cairin put his hands over the searing bloody mark of his fellow Druid.
"Fel Orcs. The Warlocks came in with abundant numbers, we couldn't fight all of them off... we lost a great many of people. It was an ambush, a massacre." The Night Elf seemed to cringe more at the words coming from his mouth than Cairin.
Aellas looked around at the many injured druids and few travelers that did survive. The Emerald Dream became the Emerald Nightmare.
Walking closer and closer to the sanctum under the great tree, Aellas froze at the small movement of the blood stained basket near one of the cots.
Carefully and silently, Aellas reached into her belt and withdrew her small dagger that Cairin insisted her on having in case of emergencies... as a Holy Priest, she did not fight much if it could be helped. Walking with as much grace and silence as a Tauren could, Aellas reached the basket and reached down to rip the cloth off the basket, only for a set of purple colored hands to raise close to her hands and face.
She held her breath with the sharp dagger gleaming with malicious intention.
"No! Don't!" Aellas stumbled back a little startled at the sudden appearance of the Night Elf.
Confused she looked at the Elf then the basket.
"I saw moveme-" Aellas was immediately silenced as she saw the Night Elf raise a delicate finger to his lips and softly remove the blanket.
Stone grey eyes widened in surprise as she peered into the basket. Aellas felt her heart melt and she looked at the dagger in her hands for a split second only to drop it like it burned her.
It was a babe.
She almost killed an infant; the very thought made her stomach turn violently.
In the basket was a small, chubby, pale baby. The infant was considerably small in Tauren standards but normal in Human. A thick tuff of brown wispy hair covered the child's head and a blush flooded its soft round cheeks. The small baby was curled up in the deep purple blanket, sleeping without a care in the world; unaware of the bloodshed that had taken place.
"We found her in the aftermath of the battle. She was laying under one of the slaughtered men." The male Night Elf whispered in a soft voice not to wake the babe as he delicately curled his large hands under the child and brought her to his chest.
"We assume she was one of the travelers' children. She has not made a sound even after we found her, I think if it weren't for that she may have been killed."
Those words were grim and saddening.
"What are you going to do with her?" The glowing white eyes of the Druid lowered in thought only to look up at the worried Tauren in front of him.
"We are not sure at the moment. We are trying to get our barrings again after the attack. If it comes down to it we will have to take her to Stormwind; there is an orphanage there. We will try to seek out the King of Stormwind to see if there are any missing children, but the chances are high with the war," Those words made Aellas's heart drop. She thought of her young calf back home, Ezekeil, he could have been just like this infant in front of her if they had traveled here a little earlier than planned.
"May I?" Aellas asked in a small voice ask she raised her hands to take the babe.
Ever so gently, Aellas's large arms were filled with the little infant. Aellas felt a soft smile come over her lips as she sat down on the cot and rocked the little human.
"Brother Whitefeather. It is good to see you again." The male Night Elf stood tall and nodded to Aellas's approaching husband.
"Peace brother. Aellas... What have you there, my love?" Cairin stepped closer to Aellas and spotted the small babe in her arms.
A human. A small, pale, chubby thing she was.
Cairin observed his wife closely as she rocked the child ever so softly and ran one of her large finger over the child's cheeks. The baby twitched and snuggled deeper into his wife's chest. Cairin watched in a small awe as the babe opened her eyes, looking directly at Aellas. The infant's large, light silver eyes mirrored at the aged stone grey eyes of Aellas.
The baby flung her arms out and up at Aellas with a large bubbly smile.
"She likes you," The Night Elf smiled to himself and at the Priest.
They all waited on baited breath for the child to make a noise but as she continued to smile and look as if she was laughing, no sound came out.
"How particular... I have not seen mute child in ages." The Night Elf's musings made both Taurens look at him.
"She's perfect. So tiny and soft and..." Aellas giggled to herself in Orchish, temporarily forgetting the massacre she had stumbled upon.
"My love?" Cairin crouched down on his knee in front of his cooing wife. He gently raised his massive head over the infant causing her to look up at the new stranger. The child's eyes brightened like starlight at the new person in front of her, and her small chubby hand waved outward and gently grabbed onto Cairin's septum nose ring causing the large brown eyes of said Tauren to soften.
"She can't go to an orphanage, Cairin. Please, let us take her home with us. Ezekeil has been wanting a sibling, she is perfect." Cairin felt his heart beat quickly at his wife's pleading words.
"My dear, she is human. She was born to the heart of man, she is Alliance... I do not want you or Ezekeil getting hurt... the safety of you two means the most." Cairin gently put his large hands on his wife's shaking knees.
"I do not care what others will think, they may believe what they will. But... my love, please. Look at her." Aellas gently put the child in the large Druid's arms.
Cairin gazed thoughtfully at the little babe in his arms as she grabbed a hold of his long loose hair and looked closely at the beads throughout it, then she waved her hands up as if she was laughing loudly.
The sight was heart melting, the little one in Cairin's arms stopped playing with his hair and raised her arms to his face as if saying 'up'.
Raising the babe close to his face cautiously he snorted a little causing a sudden gust of air in her face. She stopped her movement and blinked only have her bottom lip start to wobble and tears fill her eyes.
"No, do not cry. There is nothing to fear," the command was soft and calming. Glassy silver eyes stopped watering and she leaned a little forwards as she could in the large Tauren's arms.
The small hand was warm and squishy. It gently touched Cairin's graying snout and rubbed up the bridge of his snout met the middle of his forehead. Cairin saw the look in the baby's eyes, the look of wonder and happiness.
His earth colored eyes widened as the small child leaned her face and left a watery kiss on nose; Cairin smiled and chuckled lowly.
Aellas gazed at the warm scene and held a hand over her heart gently as she felt her maternal instinct go into overdrive.
"My love, what shall we name her?" Cairin's deep sagely voice cut through the silence of the air surprising the Night Elf, and making Aellas's brighten considerably and lean on him closely as he laid the babe in her arms again.
With trained eyes, Cairin saw the look of love rush through his dear wife's eyes as she looked from the babe to him. He wanted nothing more but to make her happy.
Wiggling a white furred finger in front of the giggly child's face, Aellas said nothing for a second.
Her grey eyes mirrored the babe's and pondered a good name for their child. The infant clapped happily at Aellas as her long ash white colored hair sprawled down her shoulder for the child to play with.
The small claps resonated lightly in the once grim and deathly place. All the Druids in the area stopped what they were doing and conversing about to look over to the source of the sound. Aellas smiled warmly at the babe.
"Her name will be Echo."
AN: Hello again! Sorry I haven't written anything in a while, I've been working my butt off on this story in between college and life. I finished it! I really hope you enjoy it! I started work on this almost a year ago and didn't want it to die. Echo was previously and very briefly mentioned in my other story, The Silver Lining of Honor & Duty... so there is a slight correlation to her name and the other character mentioned in the story, Cairin Whitefeather. I am so happy I have finished writing this story, it is quite long and I really loved creating it! See you in the next chapters!