So now I know why author's take forever to upload their work. It's definetly a pain! But I actually managed to
(somehow) get another chapter up and running. Review because I like it 3.
I do not own the World... of Warcraft!
The Caverns of Time
"Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will
only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat
them in the future."
Evangeline breathed in the soft dawn air. Milo and Kuma had left a while ago, heading in the direction of Angrathar, the Wrathgate. She smiled as she looked around her; the trees held the glimmer of a thousand shining icicles and the snow beneath her feet crunched musically as she walked. Pacing up to an old gnarled tree covered in ice, Eva pulled out a cookie that Milo had given her. Not much, but it was enough to get her through the morning. She was barely hungry anyway, she had been up all night excited and anxious of her travels ahead and eating was the last thing on her mind. But Milo coerced her into to eating, saying that all good journeys begin on a full stomach. Evangeline giggled softly while shaking her loose hair. With careful precision, the high elf quickly gathered her honey colored hair and put it into an intricate, yet still slightly messy, bun. It looked good though, the bits of hair hanging out worked perfectly with the style.
Pulling Max's whistle from her pocket, Eva carefully looked at the ebony object before putting it to her full lips and began to blow. Nothing. No sound came from the whistle and Evangeline wondered if this was some sort of joke. Milo said this would call a gryphon! She thought angrily. But just as she was about to set off in Milo's direction a massive, boney dragon came down from the sky.
It shook its massive head and roared with such strength that Evangeline went flying back into the snow. This is not going to end well, I can't fight this thing! Evangeline thought of the hopeless situation she was in. Without thinking, Evangeline summoned to her a massive sword. This sword was easily half her size and looked so sharp that you could cut yourself by merely looking at it. The sword itself was made of a luminescent white substance that glowed like the snow in the sun. Golden etchings were carefully carved to the midsection of the great blade, glowing softly with the sword. The pointy pommel was made of gold and inlaid with rubies and diamonds. The hilt was cushioned with a soft grip that allowed for the wielders hold to be firm. The guard was also made of gold and twisted around the base of the blade until it ended at its lower midsection. This too was decorated with gems.
Instinctively, Evangeline reached for the stalwart weapon and held it defensively in front of her face. Almost at once, the dragon roared and approached the woman, baring its glimmering jaws and swiping its boney claws toward her. She barely had time to dodge out of the way before a powerful attack came up from above her head. As she rolled up to the side of the dragon, Evangeline stabbed the creature in the ribs and proceeded to climb its skeletal body. Not taking kindly to the unwanted passenger, the dragon began to jerk from side to side trying to fling her off. It was extremely hard to stay balanced on the thin vertebrae, and Eva almost fell into the blue haze that was emanating from the monsters belly. Tiny beads of sweat pearled upon her pale brows; she did not have the strength to hold onto the angry dragon much longer. With a tremendous heave, Evangeline flung herself from the dragons' back onto the ground and hid in a crevice.
Keeping as quiet as possible, Evangeline tried to calm her speeding heart, pulling her sword closer to her in an embrace; she squeezed her eyes shut. Breathing rapidly from her gaping mouth Eva wondered if the mighty beast had given up, stealing a glance through her closed eyes, she peered through the crack she hid in. The dragon was vehement, swinging its body around; its claws scraped furiously at the ice beneath him while his tail swung madly; uprooting several ancient trees. Evangeline quietly whimpered from her hiding spot. Mistake. The dragon swung its head toward the icy crevice, its face trying to squeeze in to tear her apart.
Evangeline gasped quietly while squeezing the sword in her hands. Her grip was so strong her knuckles turned whiter than the boney dragon itself. With a loud cry, Eva plunged the massive weapon into the beasts' terrible skull. The frost wyrm cried out in obvious pain, though not enough to kill it; Evangeline had hurt it enough for it to give up and find easier prey elsewhere. As its glossy blue wings took to the air, the dragon screeched in defiance once more before setting off to the North.
Sighing in exhaustion, Eva pulled herself out of the hole. With a quiet crunch she lay in the snow staring into the sky, a few minutes had passed before she started grinning ear to ear. She had beaten a frost wyrm all by herself. She had survived its attack! Giggling loudly, partially from tiredness and partly from elation, Eva found herself lying there staring into the sunny sky. No clouds, only bright rays of sunshine. Hello, what's this? A couple seconds into her cloud watching, Eva found a creature encircling her in the sky. Praying that it wasn't the dragon returning to finish its job, she lumbered to a standing position, pitifully holding the heavy sword. Now completely exhausted, Evangeline knew she wouldn't last another minute in a fight. With a great screeched the creature flew down. Too small to be a dragon, but too large to be a vulture. What in Azeroth is that?
Landing gracefully at her side was a golden gryphon, armored with plates of green and gold. On his back rested a leather seat, a careful inscription into its side read 'Max'. The half eagle, half lion chirped playfully at the dumbstruck elf and seemed to laugh with its eyes observing her surprised stature. With a beating of its wings the gryphon handed to her a white envelope. Evangeline, never taking her eyes of the gryphons brown eyes, tentatively took the letter. Opening it carefully, she reached in and pulled out a note; it read:
Dear Evangeline;
If you are reading this letter, it's because Max found you safe and sound.
If not, that could be because your dead or the little guy dropped the letter. If
that's the case, then this letter is pointless and I just wasted a good two
minutes of my life. But if you did get this, let me apologize to you personally.
The whistle I gave you is actually Kuma's, I realized that when I went to call her
back to me and Max flew out of the sky. Oupps. Hopefully you weren't in too big
of a hurry, but as long as you have him now, right? Anyway, good luck on
your journey to the Caverns of Time. Hope you don't die, you're kind of cool. Regards; Milo.
Evangeline was already ready to strangle the guy by the time she finished the letter. Lucky he's far, far away from here. Scrunching up the letter into a tiny ball, she flung it over her shoulder and walked up to Max. Looking the beast in the eyes, she gently stroked its beak. The bird closed its eyes and let out a purr while ruffling its feathers. Striding up to his back and climbing on, Eva grasped the reigns. Evangeline gasped as she remembered the sword, she couldn't hold onto it and the reigns. Looking around, she noticed Max had a couple bags attached to his saddle. Opening one of them she noticed it contained food, water and a couple bags of gold. Better keep a hold of this. The boy owes me. Eva thought with a smirk.
Continuing her inspection, she noticed a scabbard hanging from one of the bags. Carefully securing it to her back and sliding the massive sword into it, Eva sighed with happiness. Finally things were going her way. She finished her rummaging by untying the bags from Max and attaching them to her strong belts that clung to her hips.
Grabbing the reigns yet again, Eva pulled back and gave Max the command to fly into the bright sunny sky. Throwing his head back to screech, Max launched himself upward into the cottony clouds. Gripping tightly to the reigns as the air whipped at her face, Evangeline could hardly contain her exhilaration. Had she ever been on a gryphon before? How long ago would that have been? She laughed as Max gave her a bit of a show, swerving in the air, plummeting down towards the sea then veering upwards again, Evangeline found it all to be so much fun. However when Max decided to do some loop da loops, he pushed it too far. Not expecting to go upside down, Eva slid off the saddle and began crashing toward the churning ocean.
"Max! Max, help me! Ahhh!" She screamed for her life, and just as she thought she would collide with the water, Max grabbed her with his enormous claws. Suspended above the Great Sea; being held solely by her arms, as the gryphons claws dug into her shoulders, Evangeline gave a tiny cry. "Max, I have to get onto your saddle. I can't hang here forever!" She said in despair.
Max immediately began flying upside down, a difficult feat that he could not do for long. As he lowered her onto his underbelly, Evangeline clawed at his soft fur, trying desperately to get a grip. Max, however started to lose altitude, and Evangeline found herself struggling to get back on his back. Irritated by her lack of skills, Max decided to throw her up into the air. Once again Eva found herself suspended in the air, immobile for a moment before falling onto Max's solid back. Climbing into the saddle once more, Eva closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Max gave a malicious screech while amusement glinted in his brown eyes.
"Don't you ever do any of that ever again!" Thinking to herself she added. "Actually, Max, you should do it again. But with Milo, you should show Milo your awesome tricks." Max squawked in delight and continued his flight to Tanaris.
It seemed as if they had been over the sea for days. A change in scenery was not an unwelcomed thought as Evangeline stared carelessly at the clouds. Several islands specked the water beneath them, but none were of interest to her, she just wanted to get to Kalimdor. Soon. Max eventually let out a warning squawk, and Eva peered into the distance. Out on the horizon, closing in quickly, was an enormous landmass. It must be Kalimdor; we're so close I can almost smell it! She cheered along with Max, knowing that their long flight was coming to a close. Veering abruptly to the left, Max made his was down to the southernmost tip of the continent; Tanaris.
Landing softly in the warm sand, Max and Eva looked at each other in triumph. They had survived the perilous journey, with only a couple of scrapes and bruises. "Come on Max, I'm tired of sitting on your back all day, let's walk to Gadgetzan." She said with elation. They didn't need to walk for long before they came to the bustling town of Gadgetzan, the headquarters of the Steamwheedle Cartel. Evangeline and Max walked through the stone arch that led them into the town, and immediately were amazed by the goods that were available. Walking around in wonder, Eva looked down at the various vendors and sampled their goods.
"Fresh off the farm sweetie, that's the best Savory Snowplum you'll ever have in Kalimdor. Got'em straight from Northrend. Those things are to die for." A small green goblin said with a wink of his eyes and a sly smile plastered on his face. "Here, you should try this Grog while you're at it, has quite a kick to it!"
"Mmm, this fruit is delicious sir, but I'm sorry, I don't drink." Evangeline said after taking a bite of the soft plum.
"Aww, that's too bad. Try some of this highland spring water then, it's pretty good stuff. Gotta little sweetness to it, some say it reminds them of cupcakes. Man I love cupcakes; they're the best things in the world." The Goblin said wistfully, turning his luminescent yellow eyes to the sky.
"Okay, let me have a taste." Evangeline said as she took a gulp from the sample cup. "Wow that is pretty good." She admitted and pulled from Milo's bag three gold coins. "Here you go sir, I'll take some plums and some of that water." She said with a smile on her face.
The goblin, smiling at the outstretched hand with the gold coins, thanked her while placing the items in her bag. Evangeline handed the coins to the vendor before setting off to the stables. "So Max, I'm just going to let you stay here while I attend to my business." Evangeline said while walking up to the stable master. "You'll be fine here until Milo comes to get you buddy."
Max whimpered at her and playfully nudged her in the arm with his beak. His eyes pleading her to let him go too, instead of being locked up in the smelly stable. She noticed his obvious attempts, and with a sigh of defeat allowed Max to follow her to the exit of Gadgetzan. A cloaked figure, however, approached Evangeline as she exited the town.
"Psst, hey. Hey, you. I think I may have something of interest to ya." The figure whispered loudly. Eva and Max paused to look at the human leaning against the rock wall.
"Um, yes?" She said curiously.
"This is a map of Tanaris; a complete map. You shouldn't even think of going out there without one. It's suicide." The man said with a laugh.
"How much for your map stranger?" Eva said kindly. Max stared defiantly at the hooded figure, not quite trusting something without a face.
"Hmm, well, maybe a good eight gold should do the trick. It's a hefty sum, but hey, it's a necessity of life, especially down here" He said, gesturing around him at the desert.
"Okay, I'd like to buy that map from you then." She said as she pulled eight gold coins from the bags clinging to her side. The man greedily took the money from her extended hands and threw her the map.
"pleasure doin' business with ya lady, see ya around." He said as he counted the coins in the palm of his hand.
The sun was burning down on the two travelling companions as they made their way through the scalding sand. "Ah, screw it Max. We're not walking anymore." Evangeline said after a while. Max was very grateful at the idea of flying into the cool breeze, and so was Evangeline. Sliding onto the leather saddle and gripping the reigns tightly, Max flew off into the sky towards the east.
It took much less time flying than it would have by foot, and Evangeline was extremely grateful to have Max with her. As they approached a collapsed building and a huge cave carved into a rocky mountain, Eva knew they had arrived. Maybe it was the Bronze dragons flying around the base that alerted her, or maybe it was the drawing on the map of a huge cave in a mountain. Either way, she had arrived at her destination, and soon, she would remember everything. Evangeline watched in awe as Max flew down the lengthy tunnel that was the caverns. From inside; she could see space and time. At the end of the tunnel lay an immense opening. Several dragons were patrolling the area while even more in their mortal form walked around checking out the temporal passageways. Her eyes were shining as she noticed the huge sand clock in the middle of the cave. Beside it slept a massive bronze dragon, which appeared to be in a temporal form, obviously in more than one time period.
Evangeline landed Max near a high elf patrolling the corridors. At once several guards came barreling to her position. The burly bronze protectors took up their weapons and pointed them directly at her shocked face.
"Halt!" The high elf said in a powerful voice. "What brings you to the Caverns of Time traveller? My name is Soridormi, the prime consort of Nozdormu the Timeless One and queen of the bronze dragonflight."
Evangeline swallowed hard, she had flown up to the queen of the bronze dragonflight. "I'm so sorry great one, I did not mean to intrude. My name is Evangeline Goldenleaf, and I've come to seek your help." She began soberly.
"Do not worry young one." The caramel haired elf replied. "Your arrival has been foreseen, and we understand why you have come to seek the help of the bronze dragonflight."
Soridormi began to walk away while motioning for Evangeline to follow her. The transmogrified dragon led her up and down winding caves until they came to a room carved into the rock itself.
"During your stay, you will live here my dear. You have nothing to fear as you will be protected from anything that may cause you harm." Soridormi said kindly.
"Thank you so much great one. I am eternally grateful to you." Evangeline said while bowing her head stiffly.
"Please, call me Soridormi. You will be visited by a priestess of the scale of the sands; she will help you with your memories. Remember that this could be a very long process and more times than not, memories will fade away and there is nothing that can be done." Soridormi said with a huff. "But don't give up hope, because there is always a ray of sunshine." She left Evangeline and Max with a wink.
Realization dawned on Evangeline, she had made it. She was in the Caverns of Time; soon, she would remember everything. Why she's being chased, why there is such a big hole in her heart, she's finally going to find out what's going on. Evangeline smiled as she plummeted into the squishy bed. Max curling up at the foot of the bed. And both of them closed their eyes and allowed the sweet dreams to take them.
But far north, in the snow blanketed region of Dragonblight; a figure clad in the darkest of metal rose from the darkness. In each of his hands was a blade, twice the size of an orc, in length and width. Slithering behind him was a massive frost wyrm; a glowing blue gash pulsed in the middle of its face. Pausing briefly, the silhouette looked at his surroundings. "What's this now?" He rumbled deeply as he reached for a crumpled up piece of paper.
Reading it slowly, the enormous figure growled a fierce laugh. "Evangeline, you're making this too easy. Too easy. We're going to have a serious talk when I find you. But something must be done, must be done. I'll wait as long as it takes; soon, I will find you. And you. Will. Die!" He roared maniacally. Behind him the massive dragon roared in unison and fury.
So I guess this is it for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed
writing it. Hopefully I'll post these more often now that I'm back onto a normal schedule!
Regards~ EvaStar*