Copyright information: The World of Warcraft is the property of Blizzard. As are the NPC`s described in later chapters. Qure`thell, Arahu and the story itself is mine. Janah belongs to a friend of mine.

Enough with the legal mumbo-jumbo, enjoy the story ^^


Somewhere on the rolling plains of Nagrand…

A lone Draenei runs alongside the Halaani river towards some hills, looking left and right wearily. He chinks and clanks as he runs, part of this is due to his mail armour. But the clanking comes from the thick and wide toolbelt around his waist. As he nears the hills the Draenei slows down a bit and reaches over his right shoulder. But there is no weapon there, the man grimaces as he remembers.

With a mighty roar the hill stands up, interrupting any thoughts of past events. The hill lunges at the Draenei. There is no sign of surprise on the part of the man, as he easily evades the hills supposedly surprise attack.

"You will not kill me shaman. There is nothing wrong with me. Let me go!" The earth elemental rumbles.

"No, element of Earth, you have been corrupted, you just can`t see it. I have to… to… er… what is the word? Cull you? " The shaman fumbles as he reaches over his other shoulder to the sturdy fighting staff there.

Enraged, the Earth Elemental unleashes a set of devastating blows on the smaller shaman. The shaman dodges one, parries the other and counterattacks by swinging his staff in powerful arcs. The Element`s powerful strikes push the Shaman back. The Shaman thrusts out a hand and pushes a small button on his gauntlet. Red hot flames shoot out at the element scorching it.

"What?" The element roars in surprise "Are you?... Are you that silly shaman?"

"Perhaps" The Draenei shrugs "Right now, I am your enemy. Fight me, Element!"

The element laughs heartily "Killing you will be easy, you are as blind as the moles that live within me!"

It unleashes a hail of powerful blows, the Draenei seems to have great difficulty evading his opponents devastating attacks. Confidently the Earth Element rumbles right up to the shaman, towering a full four feet higher. It rears up, only a foot away from the shaman. It raises both his strong arms and hands for a massive killing blow. The Draenei leaps back, trying to put distance between the two.

"You are a fool, shaman, if you had all your powers, you might have bested me. But now, now you don`t stand a chance!"

"I have no need for fickle magic, Element. I have my weapons, my devices and my courage. That is all I need to best you"

The Earth Element laughs mockingly "Toys, nothing more than toys for children"

"Then go play!" The shaman snarls as he reaches in his toolbelt and throws something at the Elements face. A metallic screech rends the air as the Mechanical Combat Drone initiates combat procedures. These involve attacking the facial features deemed most important. Surprised the Element just looks at it. An heartbeat later it recovers and bats it away like a fly.

"Fool, I…"

Lightning erupts all over the elements body. It looks down and sees the staff embedded deeply within his chest. The Draenei grins a wolf-like grin at the element.

"I know. Your eyes are just symbolic. Just like your vaguely humanoid shape. Yet you have inherited the reflexes of those who put you in that shape. And they have eyes. I know, because the other elements acted in the same way. You have just been defeated by a toy, element. My chosen path does not make me weak."

The Earth Element crumbles almost immediately, forming a new hill a few yards away from where he was lying in ambush. The shaman wipes his brow, wrenches out his staff and looks down the hole. He removes a Gnomish Army Knife and sets about digging around in his slain foe. An hour passes as he excavates the new hillock. Eventually he finds what he was looking for, a yellowish lump of rock that has a distinct aura of malice. He stretches a bit and puts everything away in his backpack.

At the horizon a dustcloud is travelling towards his general direction. The man looks at it and murmers softly to himself:

"An Elekk probably. But is it a wild one or a ridden one?"

The Draenei shrugs turns to the hill, kneels and says a prayer:

"Earth all around, take up this poor deluded servant of yours, whose only fault it was that it was corrupted by the overwhelming evil of the Burning Legion. Take pity on it and … er…"

The shaman hesitates as he wonders what actually happens to elementals when they are slain. And if corruption makes a difference

"… grant it mercy for his misguided actions, while it was under the influence of the corruption."

He gets up, dusts of his knees and looks at the dustcloud again. It will take a few hours before the cloud will reach him. He stands there for a minute, then travels north, away from the dustcloud and towards the hills in the distance.

After about half an hour the dustcloud changes course to match the shamans`. Over the course of the next few hours the shaman keeps up his running pace, searching for more corrupted Earth Elementals. The dustcloud keeps matching the Shamans changes in course. It is gaining on him too.

During the twilight hours the dustcloud reveals itself to be a Draenei on an Elekk. The Shaman nods, stops and makes camp.


Please leave comments, tell me which parts you liked and what parts were awful. I wish to learn, to become a great writer :)