Defenders of the Ancients

The war between the vigilant Sentinel and the unstoppable Scourge

Chapter 2: Heroes Uniting

Mangix seemed very nervous about the height. He tried to hide it, but Shendelzare and Tranxex noticed it by the Pandaren continuously looking down.

"Hey, Panda man, you okay?" Tranxex asked with a serious face. Mangix looked up, giggled nervously but the two females aboard did not feel the need to laugh.

"Yes, it's just that I've… I've never been on a goblin zeppelin before!" Mangix quickly made up. Shendelzare started moving the zeppelin as Mangix was halfway on the ladder. It was windy and Mangix could see himself moving away from the Pandaren Island, going over the sea. He was not a very good swimmer and was terrified of the position he was currently in.

"Please, warrior, hurry, we have not all day." Shendelzare requested.

Mangix closed his eyes with force and made a fast climb over the leather, weak ladder. He came aboard in a few seconds, exhausted inside, but not showing it to Shendelzare and Tranxex. Tranxex was sitting against the small zeppelin's wooden wall, adjusting her magnificent bow. Shendelzare came towards Mangix; she was a strange-looking night elf with dark blue armor.

"Whoa… This is the leader of the Sentinel's army… She must be very powerful!" Mangix thought to himself with a gulp.

"Hello, proud warrior, my name is Shendelzare; I'm the general of the Sentinel's army at the World Tree. What is your name?" Shendelzare said friendly.

"I'm M-Mangix! The chosen warrior of all Pandaren there are!" Mangix lied. He had no trouble with lying about his true self because, in his eyes, he was truly the chosen one.

"Welcome to the Sentinel, Mangix. This is Tranxex, an ally who you will be aiding on the battlefields against the Scourge. Now we must be heading to the dangerous lands of Tanaris, to seek the one called Juggernaut." Shendelzare said and she turned away, walked towards the control panel.

"Pandaren, can you rotate the zeppelin 90 degrees to the south?" Shendelzare asked. Mangix went to the back of the zeppelin and turned the zeppelin with the steer.

"Thank you. Hold on tight, Mangix, this may be a surprise to you." And Shendelzare pressed the yellow button. Mangix almost flew off the zeppelin, he was holding onto the small side-wall of the zeppelin as his last resort. He could not bear the wind in his face, so he looked down quickly. He saw the lands change within seconds and felt like throwing up. Shendelzare pressed the red button and there they were, above Tanaris. The scorpions and oversized insects were crawling all over the place. Sandstorms were taking place in the ruins of Dunemaul, where the ogres reside.

"Okay. Assist me in finding Yurnero, which is his name, please. He is a red orcish warrior with a blade." Shendelzare said and she and Mangix started looking for Juggernaut. Tranxex was fast asleep and they didn't want to wake her up.

The wind started to rise and the sand rose. It made it harder to spot objects, let alone Juggernaut.

"There he is! That's him, right?" Mangix suddenly said after he looks at one specific place for a long time. Shendelzare responded, walked to Mangix and looked at the spot he pointed. They saw a red orc, who was meditating in the middle of the desert-land; Tanaris. He had a big, heavy-looking blade on his back and he was in the meditating position on the floor. Mangix was about to shout at him but Shendelzare stopped him, indicating the pack of oversized scorpions approaching the orc.

"Let us see what he can do." Shendelzare said and Mangix agreed. Mangix was quite anticipated to see one of his future colleagues' skills in combat. He wondered if he could match him or if he was better than him or not. The scorpions crawled with complete silence, so that you could only hear the whistling winds of Tanaris. Mangix started showing doubt in his face as the red orc was still there, with his eyes closed, meditating, while the scorpions were still approaching on to his back. Shendelzare showed no thoughts, she had patience. The scorpions stopped, now almost touching the red orc's back. The leader of the pack went for the first sting, preparing his attack. Mangix was worried now as he knew that the Juggernaut was in great danger and wanted to warn him with his shout, but Shendelzare stopped him again.

"Do not underestimate the heroes you will do battle with." And Mangix nodded, still worried sick.

The first scorpion jumped for it, Mangix' heart skipped two beats. There was now a sand cloud, where the scorpions and the orc were. Mangix was confused now.

"What the hell happened?" Mangix thought to himself while he tried to look for his answer.

The sand started reducing and Mangix expected a dead red orc or a red orc trying to fight for his last breaths. He saw none of both. All Shendelzare and Mangix saw were the dead bodies of all 8 scorpions and the red orc, in the same position, meditating. Mangix could not believe his eyes, was it a desert mirage or an illusion? But Shendelzare shared the same sight.

"Quite a show, you seem to prove your title, Yurnero." Shendelzare shouted down at the red orc.

"Thank you. I will be coming up in a few minutes." Yurnero said, still with his eyes closed, facing the zeppelin with his back, meditating. Shendelzare nodded. Mangix was still overwhelmed by what just happened. He still couldn't figure what could've happened. Yurnero jumped aboard the zeppelin and introduced himself, so did Mangix and Shendelzare, not Tranxex, who was still asleep.

"We will now be heading to Onyxia's lair. We have to find Razzil Darkbrew, the Alchemist and Rexxar, the Beastmaster. They are attempting to journey through Onyxia's lair and to kill her after." Shendelzare read from the paper she had. She requested Mangix to turn the zeppelin a 106 degrees to the north and then she went into laser mode again. She pressed the red button after a second or two because Onyxia's lair was not far away. They flew at normal speed over the swamps for a little while and then saw the entrance to Onyxia's lair. They hovered above it, waiting. Yurnero was meditating, Tranxex was sleeping, Shendelzare was scouting the entrance and Mangix was admiring Yurnero with fear. Shendelzare noticed the two tents set up not far away from the entrance with the campfire, assuming it would be their new two members' property. They were waiting for quite a while but then, finally, saw the two running out of Onyxia's lair, exhausted. There was a loud growling noise coming from inside the dungeon. They rested for a bit, from their running, apparently and then they noticed the zeppelin.

"Greetings, you must be Razzil and Rexxar?" Shendelzare asked down on to them.

"Yes, we are!" Razzil said quickly.

"Could you please put down the ladder, now? We need to get aboard." Razzil requested and Shendelzare did so. An orc with a big backpack and an orc with a bestial-looking suit came aboard their zeppelin. They looked violent and strong, just like everyone else, thought Mangix. The two introduced their selves and so did the rest to them, except for Tranxex.

"Now, we need to find Slithice, the Naga Siren and Lina Inverse, the Slayer somewhere in Durotar. After that, we need to seek the one called Earthshaker and then we can be heading back to the Sentinel's base at the World Tree." Shendelzare said, requested Mangix to turn the zeppelin a little to the north and then went into laser mode again. This time, Mangix resisted it fully, he was proud of himself but the zeppelin slowed down fast. They went over a valley in Durotar and noticed a little house in the middle of the earth located there. Shendelzare turned the zeppelin to go straight at it. They were hovering right in front of the house; Shendelzare put the ladder down and climbed down herself. Shendelzare stood in the warm climate of Durotar, knocking on the door.

There was no response for a while. Nobody responded from the small house. She knocked again. She waited. A big breaking noise came from the door and it went over in a flash. Next moment, Shendelzare saw herself on the verge of death, nearly dodged a spear that came through the door that was now hanging through the door. Shendelzare processed the event, stood up and opened the door. She looked inside and saw nothing but darkness.

"Your kind shall not survive after my wrath is unleashed, foolish one." A cold voice whispered from inside the house.

"Worry not, Naga Siren. We are the Sentinel; we are here to pick you up. Will you follow us?" Shendelzare asked, leaping forward in front of the doorway. There was a moment of silence now. A young female naga came out of the house and Shendelzare greeted her.

"I apologize, lady Silkwood but my trust has been determined by the hateful Scourge." The naga said, as she pulled out her spear from the door.

"Forgive me, my name is Slithice. I will join your battle against the Scourge." Slithice turned to Shendelzare and gave her a smile. They went aboard the zeppelin and the introductions repeated their selves.

"Now, then… Only one more left; Lina Inverse, the infamous Slayer." Shendelzare read off her list again. She walked towards the control panel and warned Slithice for the impact, then pressed the yellow button, as they were already facing the correct direction.

In less than a few seconds they were above Orgrimmar and Shendelzare went down again, since nobody offered to find Lina instead. In the middle of Orgrimmar, Shendelzare landed from the ladder with the paper in her hand. A couple of grunts panicked and surrounded Shendelzare because of the unexpected surprise.

"You have a lot of guts, night elf! Barging into Orgrimmar all by yourself, you were not destined to get far!" One male grunt said as the other grunts also surrounding her, agreed with cheering.

"I'm the Sentinel's army's leader. You should not bother me in my quest." Shendelzare said solidly and the grunts backed off, apologizing quietly and moving back to their posts and patrols. Shendelzare read from the paper that Lina Inverse, the Slayer, is often found in pubs. Shendelzare looked around and saw a little liquor shop that was unnoticeable. She looked closely and saw that there was a high elf who was drunk, fighting with the bartender. Shendelzare walked in and observed the fight.

"You motherless orc! I have paid you several tons of gold for this… hic! ...Alcohol!" The female high elf shouted at the orcish barkeep.

"Paid me?! You just barged in here, saying a powerful sorcerer would come and pay for your debt! Now, you've been in here for almost a day and you almost drank through half of my stock!" The orc shouted angrily. The high elf was out of balance and she wasn't very conscious either.

"Lies!" the high elf shouted as she took a sip from her drink. The orc was enraged now.

"I'm going to call the grunts, just you wait, fool!" Shouted the barkeep furiously and headed for the doorway.

"No, I'm the sorceress." Shendelzare suddenly said.

"What?" The orc turned to Shendelzare with a bizarre face.

"I will pay. How much would that be?" The high elf was surprised, even though 90% of her brain was disabled.

"In total, it would be around 600gold…" The orc said, not expecting her to have that amount of money, being irritated because Shendelzare was wasting his time.

"This is about it, I think." Shendelzare said, as she gave a big, heavy bag to the orc. The orc could barely carry it and he walked towards his bar and opened it. Shendelzare walked towards the high elf and she carried her on her back. She walked out of the door with the high elf, who passed out, on her back.

"Wait, this is 2000gold!" the barkeep shouted and ran outside, but all he saw was the crowd of Orgrimmar and the sunny sky.