A-N: I wrote this chapter a few days ago, I was just to lazy to put it up. Sorry for the wait.
~8~8~
Shattrath, home to the good and the bad. The rich and the poor. Cowards and courageous folk alike. Established as a haven for people of all walks of life the vast, ramshackle town was ruled by strange beings known as Naaru and a human sorcerer named Khadgar. It was a place all where all were welcomed, where factional ties mattered not, and fighting was prohibited, making it a perfect place for hiding.
The Worlds End tavern bristled with patrons late in the night. Adventures, coming back to the city, hefted over flowing mugs of beer in a toast of their victories and fallen comrades, cheering and laughing uproariously.
Those fortune had not favored, sat hunched over their mugs brooding quietly and cursing their ill luck or keeping an eye out for a greenling they could con out of their gold.
The tavern was filled with the sweet smells of Hookah smoke, the musty odor of sweat, and freshly cooked dishes wafting through the air. Musicians played their pieces the notes drifting through the smoky air and up to the rafters, barely overheard by the dull roar of patrons.
Vanessa sat in a dark corner of the dimly lit tavern, her hair was pulled back, and her face mostly covered by a black cloaks hood. Her armor and weapon lay wrapped up in a bag by her feet, as she thought it a bad idea to leave anything lying around in this shadier part of the vast city.
She slowly sipped a Thunder brew malt, brooding over every swallow of the fiery liquid. A hand bitterly went to the new collar that had been placed about her neck. Yes, she knew what Sylvanas had said it was for, 'to help control her abilities and to track her in case she got in trouble'.
While this one, as the last she'd had, might be broken, it was at least something so she wouldn't accidentally blast a poor person to bits just because she felt slightly threatened. It was true, Vanessa had no real control over her powers, they spiked when they wanted, and she had no clue how to trigger the more threatening spells with out the collar. Even though with out it on, her aura was powerful enough to defeat many of her opponents.
Yet still a part of her thought Sylvanas had it put on as a reminder that no matter where she went or how free she felt, Vanessa was still a slave.
The thought made Vanessa grimace and she took a deeper pull of the Thunder brew malt. She decided to distract herself from such thoughts by taking interest in the many different patrons that called the World's End tavern home for the night.
Mostly Dranei, the Naaru's favored people, the towering blue creatures were mostly guards off duty and looking for some time to relax. A few Blood Elves, some working the bar, others taking order from the patrons. Bird men, known as Arrakoa, estranged from their barbaric kin and wind traders sitting with their respective peoples, chatting quietly. A few Garadar orcs sat to her left at another table, probably coming from their village in Nagrand to trade wares. To her right sat a human, Dranei, and Night Elf, huddled close together.
Vanessa saw what was happening immediately, an instinctively tensed, her eyes glancing to the orcs on her left. These were no regular village orcs, upon closer inspection, Vanessa could pick out details of the orcs that would have befitted soldiers, not simple clansmen. They way they addressed one another, and sat even, all gave clues to who they really were. Kor'kron.
The Alliance on the other side of her were doing a supremely worse job at hiding the fact they were soldiers. At first Vanessa had thought them some foolish adventures, fresh out of training, going to make a name for themselves, but now she could see the dangerous situation she was sitting right in the middle of.
Betraying none of the revelations of her face, she continued sipping the brew, her foot slowly sliding her bags to her. She was however surprised the two factions had managed to trail her so fast. Perhaps Sylvanas had underestimated how bad the king and Warchief wanted her.
One of the orcs were the first to rise, he stretched his arms and yawned loudly as if he were tired and slightly drunk. He began walking towards Vanessa's direction pretending to stumbled about her table.
His jerky motion caused the table to rattle inadvertently spilling some of the ale.
"Watch it, orc," She growled, one hand under the table, clutching her blade.
"Or you'll do what, slave?" The orc replied, he smiled, thinking he had surprised the paladin. "We know who you are, and so does the Warchief, make it easy on yourself and come with us."
"You think you and your friends over there can take me?" She asked incredulously nudging her head to the orcs partners.
The orc kept smiling, shaking his head, "Have a closer look at the patrons, slave."
Vanessa's eyes flashed across the Inn once more, this time she saw it. Half the patrons were Horde soldiers, the other Alliance. These soldiers, of course, were not like the Kor'kron or si:7 agents. These were the mercenary type, who worked for gold and other things to scratch out a living for themselves. Not only were they the more dangerous soldier, but they blended in well, explaining to Vanessa why she hadn't noticed before.
Garrosh had sent a whole company of champions to bring her in, as it appeared king Varian had as well.
She cast her gaze back down at the orc, looking at him in disbelief, "Your pig of a Warchief didn't think it would be this easy to capture me, did he?"
"Is this foul cur bothering you, My Lady?" The human from the other table interrupted, his hand gripping the orcs shoulder tightly. With the orc sprawled at the front of her table, he had probably it seen an opportunity to get close to his target.
Vanessa could have broken out into laughter, two spies so close together and neither knew it.
She shook her head, slightly smirking. "No, no, just a Horde spy trying to capture me."
Orc and human looked to one another in surprise. They both came to the realization Vanessa had already come to minuets ago.
The orc threw the first swing, landing a jaw shattering blow to the humans face, and the fighting between the two faction burst out in full frenzied force.
Cloaks were thrown off; showing pristinely cared for weapons and armor on all the soldiers. In mere minuets the raucous Tavern was transformed into a bloody battle ground.
Blood sprayed in every direction, people were thrown across the large room, breaking tables and using chairs and broken glass bottles as weapons.
Vanessa sighed slinging her bag and weapon on her back, and making strait way to the door, with all the chaos, and so deep in their hatreds, nobody was even paying attention to her anymore.
She got about half way, dodging arrows and a bottle of beer, when the real guards burst in, the mage Khadgar in the lead.
The elderly wizard's warm brown eyes sternly looked over the fray. Murmuring a spell, all save Vanessa became frozen in place.
The arch mage put a hand on his hips shaking his head slowly. "Warchief Garrosh and King Varian should both be ashamed of themselves, they both know the rules of Shattrath. All are welcomed in this city; if a danger persist that we should know about they must come with a formal request for us to look into it."
The elderly Arch mage motioned for the captain of the guard that tailed him, whispering. With a nod, the Dranei barked out orders to his troops as they began untangling the Horde and Alliance foes.
Khadgar turned to Vanessa flashing her a soft smile. "And you must be Vanessa."
"How did you know?" The paladin asked unable to resist smiling herself.
He began to walk out in the clear night and beckoned Vanessa to follow. "We here in Outland are not ignorant of the world outside this one. As I've heard you've caused quite a stir on Azeroth."
"Yea…well…" The paladin rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly wondering what the leader of Shattrath thought.
Khadgar chuckled looking back to Vanessa. "It's not my place to judge, you Vanessa, what's done is done."
"Where are we going anyway?" She asked falling into step beside the arch mage.
Khadgar smiled widely chuckling. "Some one desires to meet you very much."
The pair worked their way from the slums. Taking long winding paths and ramps higher and higher to the crest of the city.
The huge temple sitting in the middle of the city briefly took Vanessa aback, even from here she could feel the aura of light the permeated the sacred place.
Vanessa took off her cloaks hood walking numbly into the sanctuary in awe of the sheer power of the light.
Inside, paladins devout to protecting Shattrath and defeating the Legion sat around the dais of the room. They all looked at the soft white light in the center where soothing melodious noise emanated.
A soft wondrous voice entered Vanessa's head sending a pleasant tingling sensation through her. "Hello, Vanessa, my name is A'dal, welcome to Shattrath."
"Thank you, mighty A'dal, but being here I feel unworthy to stand in your presence." Vanessa replied humbly in her mind.
She couldn't help but smile upon hearing a noise Vanessa took akin to the Naaru as laughter.
"There is no need to feel unworthy, my child, all are equal here, in Shattrath…yet, I feel a sadness about you, Vanessa. What could make a woman of your caliber caught in such despair?"
"I wish I could tell you." Vanessa sighed inwardly.
"Step towards my light, child." The gentle voice bade her. "If you cannot tell me, perhaps I can soothe your tortured soul."
The crowd of paladins let Vanessa pass, as she walked reverently to the Naaru. Spinning and glowing a warm white light, it began to chime a different sweet tune that nearly made Vanessa want to hum along.
She knelt towards the creature and immediately felt a warmth envelope her; tousling her hair, permeating her body wrapping her in a cocoon of hope and safety.
Vanessa closed her eyes, allowing herself to be totally engulfed by the presences of the Naaru; there was nothing its light didn't touch. This was perfect, it let Vanessa know the light still excepted and loved her.
The light suddenly went black, dropping Vanessa like a stone. The warmth was turned to a deathly cold, and Vanessa backed away from the Naaru in shock.
From the bottom up, the light of the Naaru began to grow black, as if something were covering it with a dark paint.
Vanessa, as all the paladins and Khadgar watched in horror. A'dal's spinning became faster as the blackness grew, until he was all but a black and white blur. Everyone covered their eyes as the light and dark flashes were nearly blinding. And suddenly, it stopped.
A shrill ringing echoed through out the temple and everyone covered their ears in pain. The Naaru had become a midnight black, its voice permeating every mind in Shattrath.
"Death. Despair. Chaos. Hate. The end comes, drowning in blood and sorrow! Fear. Wrath…"
The vile words were spoken almost in a jumble, never ending as the temple began to quake sending plates of metal and stone falling from the arched roof.
"That girl has done something to A'dal!" A paladin yelled through the chaos.
"The whole place is coming down!" Another cried out.
In every direction, paladins were being crushed by the rubble their blood making the going treacherous, and slow to escape.
Vanessa barely dodged a hunk of black ceiling as she went crashing to the floor, only to roll out the way of an extremely sharp purple shard. When she got up on her feet, Khadgar was staring at her, totally oblivious to the wreak around him.
He shook his head in disbelief. "What did you do?"
She wanted to answer, had she a clue what had gone on, and if there hadn't been a huge slab of stone barreling from above, one she couldn't dodge. With her suppressed power, she knew she couldn't live through this.
A clawed hand dug into her shoulder yanking her backwards, and the crumbling temple of Shattrath disappeared to a dark void.