Chapter 4

After Naruto finished saying his goodbyes, Fallonis immediately expressed their need for provisions before they could head out for Dolanaar.

Which was why he now found himself inside of a giant tree… on top of another giant tree. He knew he wasn't the sharpest kunai of the bunch, but couldn't the first Hokage also do the same thing these guys did? Make a giant tree and and laugh at anyone who dared to try and scale the thing?

He shifted in his seat on one of the wooden benches and looked over to where Fallonis stood, bartering for food and an extra satchel. She was… mysterious? Naruto didn't know what to make of her, which was odd seeing as how usually he could get a feel for a person pretty fast. She hadn't spoken more than two or three sentences on their way to Aldrassil, and he had a feeling that it would remain the same on their way to Dolanaar. It wasn't Fallonis exactly that worried him though, it was his predicament. What if these mages couldn't find a way for him to get home? What happened to Sasuke, Granny Tsunade, and that old perv Jiraiya?

He looked up and brought up his arms to catch a brown satchel the Sentinel had tossed at him, "Are you ready child?"

He frowned, "It's Naruto."

Fallonis raised an eyebrow and stared at him expectantly.

"My name is Naruto" he grumbled as he fiddled with the satchel, securing it around his waist. Would it kill somebody to give him a little more respect? It's not like he was the only thing holding back a giant nine-tailed fox inside his stomach from destroying everything in sight. The blonde looked up and noticed that the woman had ignored him, and had already started walking towards the exit of the tree. He jogged a bit to catch up with her while waving at the male trader behind him, and continued where he had left off, "What's your deal anyways? You've barely talked to me the whole way here!"

Fallonis looked as if she were about to respond, when a loud shout interrupted her.

"Fallonis!"

The pair had just stepped out onto the cobbled road outside of Aldrassil, and looked over to see a male night elf running in their direction. He vaulted over a fallen tree branch before stopping in front of them, catching his breath.

The newcomer had pale blue skin, cyan hair, and was carrying a long brown staff in one of his hands. He looked up to Fallonis with a small smile, "I heard the news from Dentaria," a small grin tugged at his lips, "were you truly so bored that you decided to become a babysitter?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the comment but he stayed silent.

"He's just a boy who wandered too far from his parents. I will be escorting him to Darnassus. Please be quick, we are short on time, Illithaine." the Sentinel stated.

Illithaine stared at Naruto, "I… see… In any case," he pulled out what seemed to be a silver talisman in the shape of a claw from his pocket. A string of brown yarn was threaded through it, making it into a makeshift necklace, "Please, take this with you, think of it as a charm for good luck.."

As he gave her the talisman, the night elf cupped her hand in his, "I know this may seem paranoid to you, but please be careful. Teldrassil is not as safe as it seems, especially after that disastrous earthquake…"

Fallonis nodded, not showing any signs of returning the same affection.

Illithaine, unsure if he should say anything else, bowed and muttered a quick 'good luck' before taking off in the same direction he came from.

Naruto watched the the elf's retreating back, "That was…. weird…" Fallonis seemed to let out a small hum in agreement.

"Yes, but he has always been that way, he doesn't get the chance to interact with others often, unless they are animals." Fallonis looked down at the charm in her hands once more before pocketing it, "Follow me child, we will need to make a quick detour while on our way to Dolanaar."

The boy nodded, and stepped forward while looking up to the guarded gate that exited the valley of Shadowglen.

"So where are we going then?"

"A small village called Starbreeze. I will need to fill another vial with water from one of its moonwells."

Naruto let out a grunt in acknowledgement to hide his confusion. He didn't really understand what moonwells were, just that their water glowed.

He decided to satiate his curiosity with a different question instead, "So uh, you guys really like nature, and animal stuff, huh?"

Fallonis let out an uncharacteristic snort at his phrasing. In truth, she didn't mind the constant barrage of questions. It was entertaining to watch a human, no matter their age, try and wrap their heads around her kin's culture, "Yes. I will not go into the details, but our kind have experienced the consequences of turning our backs on nature before…" Her eyes grew distant, before coming back to reality once again, "Even now we still bear those scars, our immortality long since lost."

Shifting his satchel a bit, Naruto ignored the stares of the four sentinels guarding the only entrance into Shadowglen, "You guys used to be immortal?" He looked up at her, his head tilted in fascination.

"How did you become... not immortal?" He scoffed at himself for the wording but quickly got over it. If speeches were his specialty then he wouldn't be a ninja.

Noting that they still had quite a ways to go before reaching Starbreeze, Fallonis told the story she had personally taken part in.

The story of the War of the Ancients, and the Great Sundering.

While she had been quite young at the time, and as a result had not played that large of a role in the events surrounding the Burning Legion's first invasion of Azeroth, she had still slain hundreds of demons in service of the Sentinels. She often thanked Elune for being a quick learner, otherwise she may not have survived the demonic onslaught. Fallonis would forever remember when she first picked up her glaive from the fallen form of her mother, a sentinel like herself, and had quite recklessly charged into a line of demons. Her swings were desperate and without guidance or skill, but by Elune's grace she had survived.

As she told her story, Naruto grimaced and felt at his stomach. He couldn't help but wonder if the demon fox inside of him was related to the demons that had devastated her people and the world he now found himself on. What was worse was the expression on her face. It was mirror-image of the villagers' faces back at home. He only received two kinds of gazes back in Konoha. One was a look of irritation or annoyance, like he was a bug that just kept multiplying and coming back. The other was haunted, as if someone was seeing… well a demon.

It hurt, and Fallonis' story only served to remind him of his burden.

"Does my tale scare you child?" Fallonis had watched his reactions carefully, and couldn't bring herself to blame him if he was. To this day her experiences haunted her.

Naruto suddenly stopped walking, his stare focused on the palm of his right hand.

"No."

Naruto clenched his fist, and for the first time Fallonis saw the overflowing determination in his eyes, "One day, I'm gonna be Hokage, which means I need to be strong enough to defend my village, and its people," Naruto thought back to the multiple times in his life he had been frozen by fear. Those two ninja that had ambushed his team on his first mission with Team 7, his first encounter with Zabuza, Orochimaru, "I can't afford to be afraid anymore." Fallonis stayed rooted in her spot as Naruto resumed his march forward, acting as if he hadn't just matured past his age with his previous statement. She followed after him with the newfound knowledge that he wasn't just some ordinary human boy.

Perhaps there was more to Naruto than she had bothered to notice before.

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The satyr observed the grells and furbolgs bustling about beneath his perch in Fel Rock.

Lord Melenas was spiteful. He had originally been a devout druid, holding the same desires and whims as the rest of his brethren, but that all changed when he was shown the truth. The burning truth that would soon come to envelop this world and the rest of the universe. There was no escape from the Burning Legion, in fact, there was no need to escape it at all. If anything, the Legion was their saviour; their knight in shining armor. The destruction of everything would save them all from the all encompassing terror of the Void.

How he pitied his once brothers and sisters. They were the blind leading the blind, stumbling through the darkness yet fighting desperately against the torch his Master offered them.

If they could not see reason, then they would die as the ignorant fools they were.

Melenas turned to the satyr beside him, "You know the price for failure Zenn, intercept the courier and bring the vials to Vorlus."

Without warning, Melenas pushed his fellow satyr off his perch and into the cave below, causing him to land on his chest and let out a grunt of pain. Zenn sneered up at Melenas before getting up and walking away, his clawed hand pawing at his chest as he left.

Yes, the elves would soon pay the price for their defiance.

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Alright, so I know that this chapter is a lot shorter than I would like but I didn't want to leave you all in the dark for a whole week thinking I had abandoned this story or something like that. I have been busy with college and work lately, but I finally got the time to sit down and write this chapter out for you guys. As usual, please review and leave feedback for me please! It makes me a better writer in the end, which makes for a better story. Thank you in advance!